Second Chances
by aniza93
Summary: Severus Snape is found dead in the Shrieking Shack. In limbo, can one girl go back in time and change the wizarding world as she knows it?
1. Chances are when said and done

The final battle is over. Bodies are scattered everywhere, lifeless. People are rejoicing as soon as they hear these words, but not for Elanora. No, she is searching all across the battlefield, desperately searching for one man. Some would have thought she was crazy, but that wasn't going to stop her. She stumbled upon the Shrieking Shack, and her heart dropped at the sight of dried blood by the window. Slowly opening the door, tears blurred her vision as her eyes settled upon the lifeless body of Severus Snape.

"No…" She sprinted and dropped to her knees at his side. "Severus, why?" The tears fell freely from her face, her grey eyes wandering his whole body, automatically looking straight at the snake bites and the pool of blood at his side. She collapsed on top of him, her dim red hair fanning around her as her pale hands gripped his robes in tight fists in between sobs, cursing the Gods that allowed this to happen to him, and to torture her in this way.

She heard footsteps coming by, and immediately pulled out her wand and pointed it at the intruder. Elanora faltered, however, when she realized it was Professor McGonagall who was looking back at her with sad eyes.

"Elanora, you know you couldn't have stopped it." McGonagall quickly said as soon as Elanora opened her mouth. "He died to protect Harry and follow Professor Dumbledore's orders."

"All because of Lily…" She spat the name as if it was filled with venom, "All because of that bitch he's dead. I hope she's rotting in hell right now."

"Now Ely…" McGonagall was about to defend her once prized student, but stopped when she finally realized how broken her former student was in front of her. "You were in love with Severus?"

Elanora could barely speak, but as she nodded she started to sob even harder.

"I had hoped…" She sniffled as she wiped her eyes at an attempt to stop the tears as they continued to fall, "that once all of this was over, he could finally be happy." She looked at her old Professor before turning back to the love of her life, stroking a stray hair gently out of his face. "I could have made him happy. I would have showered him with love that he so desperately needed. He wouldn't have been like this if I would have had a chance."

"Dear, that might have been true, but there is nothing that can be done now." McGonagall realized that Elanora was not going to be moved from Severus anytime soon, so she walked out of the Shrieking Shack to inform aurors the location of his body.

Alone again, Elanora took in every feature of his face with tears threatening to fall. She had not seen this man as long as Harry has been alive, and she could see the years had taken a toll on him. However, that still didn't stop her from believing with every fiber in her being that he was the most handsome, courageous, brilliant, selfless, amazing man she had even known. Leaning in carefully, she placed her lips upon his cold lifeless ones, pulling back as soon as she knew tears were going to fall on him if she hadn't moved quickly.

"I wish I would have had the chance to have done that when you were alive." Again burying her face in his chest, she sobbed even harder than before as she let it sink in that she would never have the chance to see his eyes on her, his heartbeat would never be heard by her, or that she would never know what it would be like to have that cruel but knowledgeable mouth smile at her. She would have given anything to have him insult her. She would have given her life, just allow him to live again.

"Why did you have to love Lily? Why couldn't you have loved me?" She whispered as if she would have gotten an answer back, but the only thing that answered back was the waves from the lake swishing not too far ahead.

Elanora continued to sob and mourn for her lost love, eventually passing out with his head cradled in her arms. However, when she finds herself awake, it appears that she is sitting under a tree by the lake, a deep mist surrounding her and to her surprise finds Albus Dumbledore smiling at her as he approached her.

"If I'm seeing you, that means I'm dead, and it is way too white up here." Elanora said while looking around her which caused Dumbledore to chuckle.

"Always the one to state the obvious with a bit of humor Miss Taylor." Elanora smiled slightly at his statement before resting her eyes back on him. "Alas, you are far from being dead. You have simply gone into what would be a coma."

"Severus?" Elanora dared ask, to which Dumbledore frowned.

"Severus is at a crossroads. The fates are not exactly sure which way to put him. Essentially, he is stuck in limbo." Dumbledore looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. "However, the fates apparently have decided to give the decision to you where he ends up."

"I'm not exactly following you Professor." The questionable look on her face made Dumbledore chuckle again, seeing that it was an expression she used rather often when she was a student, and decided to clarify.

"The fates have decided that they would like to give you a second chance. However, no one would remember anything, except you." He frowned at bit while looking sorrowfully downward, although she couldn't see what he was looking at. "The boy deserved happiness, and I regretfully admit I am a main reason he never got it."

"I wish I had the chance." She whispered out loud while looking down, but everything just started whooshing around her and spiraling out of control.

She opened her eyes quickly and sat up panting. She took in her surroundings and quickly realized that she was not in the Shrieking Shack and Severus was not here. Standing up and walking to a mirror, she gasped at what she saw in front of her.

Elanora Rose Taylor was now staring back at her twelve year old self. By the looks of her surroundings, she guessed that it was going to be her second first day at Hogwarts.


	2. Who'll be the lucky ones

Elanora was still checking herself in the mirror when she heard a familiar female voice call out, "Rose, wake up! Breakfast is ready and we can't be late for the Hogwarts Express."

Elanora's heart dropped into the pit of her stomach and her eyes started to water at the sound of her voice. Her father had passed away when she was about three in a tragic car accident. Ely and her mother survived, but her mother passed away two years later. Ely's aunt told her that a wizard had come and killed her, and because of that Ely now had a scar that fell from the top of her left eyebrow all the way down to almost halfway down her cheek due to some glass that had shattered around her, along with a scar on her left shoulder. Later in life, Ely would realize that because of this, she would be able to see Thestrals later on in Hogwarts.

"Coming Aunt Minnie!" Making haste, at the sight of her aunt she tackled her in the biggest hug she could muster. Her aunt would die shortly before the battle of Hogwarts due to cancer. Ely would be the only relative to go to the funeral.

"Whoa, what's with this extra energy?" Minnie hugged her niece back. "Are you excited to see me or is it because you won't be seeing me for a few months?"

"I just feel like I haven't seen you in ages." Ely smiled brightly at her aunt, and together they made their way down to the first floor of the Leaky Cauldren.

Elanora was originally from Britain, but with the deaths of both her parents, she moved to Australia with her aunt, her father's native home. Both her mother and aunt had come to study at Hogwarts, thus it was decided that Elanora would also attend Hogwarts.

"Are you packed and ready?" Minnie asked Ely, who nodded, and a few seconds later Ely luggage was at their side.

"Hooroo Tom!" Minnie called out to the landlord, who chuckled but waved at the farewell, still not completely used to the Australian slang as they walked out to the busy London streets. Hailing down a cab, the cab driver put Ely's luggage in the trunk with her owl Belle in between herself and her aunt as they drove to King's Cross.

Elanora felt the familiar jitters she had when she was a first year. She wondered if she was going to be sorted into Hufflepuff once again. Like Severus, Ely found herself in solitude a lot of the time she was at Hogwarts. She would have much rather had read the latest romance novel, take walks along the shore of the lake, and explore the forbidden forest than play wizard chess and hang out in the common room. However, she did have a fondness for Quidditch, and tended to be in favor with her Professors.

Once at the King's Cross, she immediately recognized a few of her classmates out of the crowd. She quickly located a head of red hair not that far different from hers, and knew at that moment that she was looking directly at Lily Evans. Hatred filled her heart and her wand hand twitched, but then she realized that most of what she remembered hasn't happened yet. Putting a bright smile for everyone that turned to look at her and her aunt, they quickly passed through to Platform 9 and ¾ and the Hogwarts Express smoke greeted them before the sight of the shiny train.

Having her luggage in the compartment, Ely turned to her aunt and gave her another big hug.

"I'm going to miss you so much." Minnie hugged back just as hard, before looking at Belle, "You behaved yourself missy. Don't go and knock the other owls because you have the coolest witch."

"Aunt Minnie!" Ely turned almost as red as her hair which caused Minnie to laugh, a pleasant blush on her own cheeks that complimented her dark auburn hair quite nicely. Minnie was the sister of her father, although she was a muggle born witch, and her father was a muggle. It was because of Minnie that Elanora exist. She had her father's hair and eyes, but her mother's kind face.

"Go and have fun!" Minnie called out as Ely hopped on the train just as it signaled its departure.

Ely was carrying Belle in front of her as she searched for a compartment that would have a space. Everywhere seemed to be full, except for one, and that one contained none other than Severus Snape and Lily Evans.

"Fair dinkum, mate? This is just a big joke." Ely mumbled to herself as she slowly opened the compartment door.

Severus and Lily automatically looked up at the intrusion, and Ely put on her best welcoming smile. "G'day! Pardon me, but can I sit here? All the other compartments are full."

Severus was about to snarl something, but Lily beat him to it with a bright smile said "Sure, there's plenty of room."

"Thanks mate." Ely smiled warmly as she placed her bag and Belle down and took a seat next to the window, where Severus was currently staring out of to avoid talking to her. Ely frowned slightly, but Lily just brushed it off.

"Don't mind him, he isn't that sociable. By the way, I'm Lily Evans, and this is Severus Snape." Lily jabbed him playfully in the side which he glared playfully back, but a small smile danced upon his lips. Ely's heart beat sped up at the sight, before she reminded herself that he still wasn't the man she had gotten to know and fallen in love with. "So, where are you from? You don't look like a first year, but I've never seen you before."

Ely raised her hand to shake with Lily's and replied, "I'm Elanora Taylor, but I'm used to Ely." Lily nodded as if digesting the information, and now Severus was looking at her curiously as her accent slipped out. "I'm originally from Britain, but after both my parents died I went to go live with my Aunt Minnie in Australia."

"I'm sorry about your parents." Lily said as she frowned and so did Severus, both obviously sympathetic towards her lost.

"It's alright, I was only three and five, hardly remember it." She unconsciously nodded her head forward slightly so her hair fell in front of her scar and shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Even as she grew up, talking about her parents had been a sore subject for her, due to the fact that she couldn't remember much about them. "So, this is your second year?"

Both nodded, to which Lily asked, "Is this your first year at Hogwarts?"

Ely, making up the story as she went along, nodded, "Yup, although I should be a second year. Who knows, maybe I will be."

"That would be great! Then you could be in the same year as Severus and I." Lily smiled at her to which Ely smiled politely in return. It was hard to dislike a person who was really nice.

Lily and Ely kept talking for most of the train ride with Severus on occasion adding his thoughts, but the fun was cut short when James Potter and Sirus Black opened the compartment door.

"Hey Evans." James immediately looked at Lily, while Sirus shifted his attention to Ely, checking her out while Ely rolled her eyes. James looking at Ely, turned back to Lily and asked "Who's your friend?"

"None of your business you ding bat." Ely snapped before crossing her arms across her chest, noticing Lily had a similar expression, which she answered "Why don't you leave us alone Potter?"

Both of them sat in the compartment, James on Lily's side while Belle's cage separated Sirius and Ely.

"So, you're new here. Which house do you want to be in?" Sirius asked slyly, a smirk on his face which took everything in Ely not to hex that smirk off his face. She looked down at their uniforms and realized that they were all in Gryffindor.

"Anywhere, but Gryffindor. But, if I had to pick one, it would be Slytherin." Ely watched with a smile as Sirius and James' smirks dropped from their faces, and Severus chuckled.

"Why would you want to go into that house? Everyone knows that anyone that goes in there comes out as a bad wizard." James defended which Ely and Severus rolled their eyes.

"I'd rather be ambitious and cunning then courageously stupid." Ely retorted, causing Severus to chuckle which he masked as a cough, and James almost swelled in anger.

With a slight smile, Ely said "Why don't you two just find another place to go? Obviously James' head is too big for this place."

"Why don't you go back to Australia and ride a kangaroo?" At this remark from James, Sirius laughed, but Ely's ears were turning bright pink.

Before James could even register what was going on, Ely wiped out her wand and flicked it right at James, who a few seconds later was being attacked by his own boogies. In an attempt to get away from them, he opened the compartment door and slid out and started running down the hall.

Sirius quickly got up to help his friend, when he turned back around and gave Ely a charming smile. "Feisty, I like you already."

"In a Buckley's chance I would date you." With that, she flicked her wand and with a murmur, the door closed on his face.

Severus was now looking at Ely with a great interest now, and Lily looked shocked.

"How did you do that?" Lily asked astonished, and Ely shrugged.

"My aunt taught me." Ely lied, considering she couldn't say '_I already learned the spells because I've already graduated Hogwarts, but I went back in time to stop Severus from living unhappy and miserable and to stop him from making tragic choices that would end up with him dead because of you._'

The Hogwarts Express slowed down to a stop and everyone piled off the train to be met by Hagrid, the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts. Ely was about to greet him like she used to, but realized quickly that he had no idea who she was yet.

"Elanora Taylor!" Ely wiped her head around to see Professor McGonagall calling her name. "Elanora Rose Taylor!"

"That's me!" She made her way through the first years to where the Professor was. Professor McGonagall looked Ely up and down before saying "Miss Taylor, you are to follow me to the castle."

Casting a quick glance back at Lily and Severus, she waved them farewell before following McGonagall to where the threstrals were. She gasped at the sight of them, it had been years since she had seen one, but McGonagall only frowned at her. Once they were in the carriage, McGonagall explained the situation.

"The Headmaster gave me direct orders to come pick you up directly and take you straight to the office. It is there that you will be sorted into your house. You will be given a test that will determine if you are up to level with the second years where you should be, and that will decide who you will take classes with. Once that is decided, it will also determine where your sleeping arrangements will be." By the time she had finished explaining, they were in front of the castle, but she still had a frown on her face. "The Headmaster won't tell me exactly what's so special about you, but I guess I will find out in due time."

When they reached the Headmaster's office, Ely realized that this was far from a private meeting. She guessed that the two students standing there were prefects that were there looking expectantly at them. They Sorting Hat was sitting on a stool, ready for her.

"Welcome to Hogwarts Miss Taylor. By tradition we would normally have you sorted with the first years, but since you are not a first year, we will sort you first. That way you may take a shortened version of each of the first year OWLs to determine where it is that you will be placed." Dumbledore informed her just like McGonagall had earlier. He had a twinkle in his eye as he smiled. "But before we do all this, you must be sorted. This should be interesting."

McGonagall took the Sorting Hat off the stool and Ely sat down. Not even two seconds later was the Sorting Hat placed on her head.

"Hmm, interesting mind you have. Ravenclaw would be perfect for your love of books, but studious seems not to be a strong point. Loyalty is an admirable trait for Hufflepuff which seems to be a strong point for you…" Ely started to turn red as the Sorting Hat was reading her mind. Last time she was here she was sorted into Hufflepuff, but that didn't help her relations in the slightest. "Cunning and ambitious seems to have followed you. Slytherin would be an idea… But what is this…" Ely was turning redder than her hair under the hat. "But you are also very are courageous and brave; Godric Gryffindor would have loved to meet you… "

"Not Gryffindor please!" Ely pleaded to the sorting hat in her mind. She couldn't even think of having to deal with Potter and Black _all the time_. She'd go completely nuts before the first semester was over.

"Ah, but you would do so well!" Ely silently asked the Sorting Hat to place her anywhere but Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat finally opened its mouth wide and shouted, "Slytherin!"

The two prefects and Dumbledore clapped as McGonagall took the hat off of her head.

"That was very informative indeed." Dumbledore inquired after McGonagall excused herself with the Sorting Hat. "Now, you should enjoy your first feast here. Our prefects will escort you down to the Great Hall. As soon as you are done, they will escort you towards Professor Flitwick's class, where everything has been set up for you in advance." Nodding in agreement, Dumbledore smiled again, "I expect great things from you Miss Taylor. Great, life changing things. But, alas, we will talk again eventually." With a slight bow, he left as well.

The boy prefect was a Ravenclaw and the girl prefect was a Gryffindor. She had a smug look on her face while he didn't look so happy. However, they followed orders and escorted her to the Great Hall. Most of the first years were already sorted, so it was going to be a few minutes before they would eat.

The Ravenclaw prefect escorted Ely towards the Slytherin table. He had a firm grasp on her forearm as everyone slightly diverted their attention from the Sorting towards them. Ely assumed that the Slytherin coming towards them was one of the older prefects in the same year as the Ravenclaw. She blanched slightly however when she realized it was Lucius Malfoy coming towards them. She quickly composed herself however, hoping no one had seen her change in demeanor. The prefects exchanged quick words before the Slytherin nodded. Both of them then turned to Ely.

"This is one of the prefects in your house, fifth year Lucius Malfoy. He will take you to either Helena or myself once you're done."

"Thank you…" Ely wanted to properly thank him but she had no idea what his name was.

"Matthew Watson." He bowed slightly and Ely smiled.

"Thank you Matthew." Matthew smiled back and went towards the Ravenclaw table. Lucius bowed towards Ely, a small smirk on his face and Ely almost immediately knew she had to stand guard.

"If you would please follow me…" He paused, waiting for her to give her name.

"Elanora Taylor." She gave him a tight smile, remembering everything he was going to do in the future. She knew in the back of her mind that she couldn't hold him accountable, yet, but somehow it didn't stop her from seeing a bit of red.

He sat her next to him with some of the older students, and she quickly picked out Narcissa, Andromeda, and a few other Slytherins that she could recognize. Unfortunately, that also meant she knew she was surrounded by future Death Eaters, if they weren't Death Eaters already. She quickly ate most of her food as well-mannered as she could, and stole quick glances at Severus from time to time.

Lucius realized Ely had been finished eating and had was just sitting there and stood up. He left the table, probably to go look for Matthew or Helena, and Narcissa gave her a death glare.

"So Elanora…" Narcissa started with a bit of a hiss, "Where are you originally from?"

"I was born in Britain, but I've lived in Australia for most of my life." Ely was tempted to stare her down, but Andromeda brushed her sister off.

"Don't worry about Narcissa, she just really likes Lucius." Andromeda joked, which Narcissa turned and gave her sister a death glare.

"Don't worry Narcissa, I don't really care for anyone, nor do I think I will in a while, especially Lucius."

Narcissa was about to continue questioning her when Lucius came back with Matthew.

"Come on Elanora…" Matthew said to her and Ely nodded. Ely quickly said goodbye to those she was talking to, and followed Matthew out of the Great Hall, but not before nodding a farewell to Severus as well.


	3. Who make it all the way?

Elanora had done exceptionally well on all the OWLs she had taken, which she already knew was going to happen. Dumbledore was pleased, and it was decided that she would start with the second years as he had originally planned. Of course, he wouldn't reveal how he knew what he knew, but she simply just shrugged it off. However, it wasn't Matthew who was waiting for her when she walked out.

Lucius bowed to Elanora again as he saw her walk out of the room. She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as he smirked again. She supposed it was supposed to be charming, but she just wanted to gag. Together they walked to the dungeons. Lucius leveled eyes with Elanora, and smirked at the fact that she didn't shudder under his gaze. He turned back around and said "Pure-blood."

The wall opened and both of them stepped inside. "Welcome to Slytherin. We have a few basic rules: any confrontation in this house will be dealt with in the house. If you need to battle someone, do so discretely. Also, if you are doing something that might get you in trouble, do so without getting caught. You will gain house points by any means necessary and try to get the other houses to lose as many points as they can. Boys' dorms to the left, girls' to the right."

"Thank you Lucius." Ely tried to give him a smile that looked genuine, to which he seemed to buy into. "Good night."

"Good night Elanora." He bowed again but this time took her hand and kissed it. She tried not to change her facial expression or flinch, before she quickly turned on her heel and went to her dorm.

Ely looked around her and saw that three out of the other four girls she would be sharing a room with were gossiping with each other. The fourth looked rather introverted, and when she locked eyes with Ely she gave her a small smile. Ely returned it, before looking and seeing that everything was packed and where it needed to be. The three girls took the beds farthest away from Ely and the other girl, so the other girl sat on the free bed facing Ely.

Ely stuck out her hand for her to shake, "I'm Elanora Taylor, but I like it better if people call me Ely."

"Isabella Smith." The girl returned the handshake, her hazel eyes looking at Ely kindly, but still a bit worried. "Welcome to the Slytherin house."

For some strange reason, Isabella's name flashed across Ely's eyes, and she saw in the future the Daily Prophet doing a small article on her suicide.

'_Maybe I was meant to save more than one life.'_ Ely thought briefly as she saw Isabella flipped her dark brown hair behind her back.

"Nice to meet you Isabella, and thank you."

She smiled at Ely again, "By the way, you can call me Bella. Isabella has always been very formal to me."

"So where do you come from Bella?" Ely felt stupid asking this question, but quickly realized that if she was going to have an ally in this house against the rest of the girls if it came down to it, Bella would be it.

"I'm from Scotland…" She paused momentarily and really looked at Ely, "You're not from around here, are you?

"No I'm not. Originally I am, but I've been living in Australia for years." She fake yawned and rolled onto her side, magically switching into her pajamas to avoid answering any more questions. Bella looked amazed.

"Okay, you have to teach me how to do that." Ely nodded and with what sounded like a goodnight, rolled over again and went straight to sleep.

Ely woke up the next morning with a start, Severus' dead body kept her tossing and turning throughout the night. She guessed that dawn was about to break so she sat up, got ready in her school robes, and made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hopefully she would be able to get a morning stroll in before classes.

Halfway to the Great Hall, Lucius crossed paths with Ely. She tried to get pass him politely, but he just smiled at her.

"You know, a pretty girl like you should not be out in the halls alone. Anyone could just come and attack from anywhere, especially since you don't know your way around yet." He attempted to brush the hair out of her face, but she quickly gave him the other cheek.

"I can defend myself rather well, thank you very much." Again, she tried to walk past him, but instead he stopped in front of her and held is arm out to her. "You won't leave me alone, will you?"

Lucius smirked, "Like I said, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be roaming around by herself. Besides…" This time he leaned in close to her, "you are roaming around half an hour sooner than allowed, and I would hate to see Slytherin lose house points."

Sighing, Ely took his arm and the two of them walked together to the Great Hall. Lucius tried to make small talk, which Ely only replied in short and to the point answers. This didn't seem to bother him however, seeing as once the reached their destination Lucius was smiling very broadly. He had intended to open the door for her, but as soon as he had to reach for it, the door opened to reveal the Headmaster.

"Ah, Miss Taylor, I was just about to go and look for you in the Slytherin common room." He smiled with a twinkle in her eye, while Lucius visibly tensed. "Mr. Malfoy, you don't mind if I take away Miss Taylor? There is a pressing issue I must speak to her about."

Lucius nodded and quickly turned into the Great Hall, a sour look on his face. Ely sighed in relief, only to hear Dumbledore chuckle.

"Please, let's come to my office." They walked to the staircase leading up to Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore saying the password "time travel", and off they were into his office.

"I received some very interesting news last night after the feast, from my future self." Dumbledore started when they had gotten comfortable. "He said that things were starting to change, but he wasn't sure if it was good or bad yet." He smiled as Ely paled. "I know you have the knowledge of the future, and due to your character as I had once seen, I can only hope you are making the changes necessary to help the future."

"But how did you know Professor?" Ely gave Dumbledore a confused look, which made him chuckle softly and the twinkle in his eye shine.

"Loyalty is the one trait you value most above all others, which is why you were originally placed in Hufflepuff. However, it was your desire to keep a certain someone as close as possible is what made you Slytherin this time around." Ely blushed while mumbling something along the lines of '_Slytherins can be loyal too._'

They ate together as Ely told him as much as she could about what she knew of the future, and by the time she finished, Dumbledore had a very thoughtful look on his face.

"My dear, I believed you have just saved a few hundred lives by telling me what you know. There may well be a chance that you never have to see such a tragic future." He set his tea down and stood up. "You are welcomed to stay in my office, although I don't know how entertaining the office can be without Fawkes around."

Ely stood up, "Professor, I think I would rather take a walk along the shore of the lake if that is alright."

"Quite alright. After all, you do take after your name Elanora." He handed her a slip, "You may walk around the lake when dawn breaks, but you still need to be in bed by curfew. That should give you enough time to collect your thoughts." Ely smiled brightly at Professor Dumbledore as she turned to leave when he said "Pay Hagrid a visit won't you? He gets lonely sometimes too." Ely turned around and nodded before opening the door to exit.


	4. Though you say I could be your answer

Seeing as she still had almost an hour before she was supposed to be off to her next class, she was going to walk into the Great Hall for her schedule when an Eagle owl started to come towards her. The owl landed on her shoulder and dropped two pieces of parchment in her hand. The owl looked rather dignified, and it was only after Ely gave the bird a treat that he let her pet him. The owl flew away the minute Ely dropped her fingers, and Ely decided to look at the letter first before opening what she knew would be her class schedule.

_Elanora,_

_I trust Salazar delivered your class schedule to you and was polite. Due to our earlier interruption, I do hope that we have another chance to chat. Let me know your answer in person._

_**Lucius**_

Ely rolled her eyes before sticking the letter in her robe pocket. Opening her schedule, she looked over it briefly while she made her way to Hagrid's hut.

_Monday _

_Potions (first period) _

_Charms (second period)_

_Herbology (after lunch) _

_Tuesday _

_Defense Against the Dark Arts (first period)_

_Transfiguration (second period)_

_Astronomy (Midnight)_

_Wednesday _

_Potions (first period) _

_Transfiguration (second period)_

_Charms (after lunch) _

_Thursday _

_Herbology (first period)_

_Flying (second period) _

_Charms (after lunch)_

_Friday _

_Potions (first period)_

_Transfiguration (second period)_

_Herbology (after lunch)_

Looking thoughtfully, she realized just how many classes she was going to have with Gryffindor, and the thought made her roll her eyes. "Stupid Potter…" She knocked on Hagrid's door and Fang's bark was immediately heard. Hagrid opened the door with a smile but then looked questionably at Ely.

"Err… Can I help you?" Hagrid asked and the Ely realized that she had no reason yet as to why she would be talking to Hagrid. The first time around, he found her crying by the lake and gave her comfort. Hagrid never knew, but that day he saved her life.

"Um yes…" Ely kept thinking about what exactly to say, but each thing that popped up seemed more ridiculous than the last. "Professor Dumbledore asked me to tell you something, but I just can't seem to remember what it was exactly."

At this Hagrid roared with laughter, and it was at this point that Fang leaped out of the hut and tackled Ely to the ground. Fang was howling in excitement as he gave one big, long lick to the side of Ely's face. Hagrid looked on confused once he calmed down when Ely pulled a bone out of her robe, and started to play with Fang.

"You're a strange one for Slytherin, you know that?" Hagrid asked amused but all Ely did was smile. "Alright, since you already walked over here, come inside." Fang followed Ely inside and continued to allow her to pet him as he rested his head in her lap. "Seems Fangs has already takin' a likin' to ya, but he has never done that to anyone except Dumbledore."

"Maybe he can sense good people from bad." At Ely's sly smile, Hagrid chuckled.

"Can't argue with ya there. Old Fang 'ere runs away from danger faster than you can say Quidditch." Ely giggled, and Hagrid was at ease enough to ask, "So why did Dumbledore ask you to come? Slytherin's don't like me, ya see, so it's a bit odd for you to show up."

"Professor Dumbledore had to ask me about something else. Besides, I think I prefer your company better than whackers in my house."

Hagrid once again looked at her confused. "Ya not from 'ere…"

"Originally yes, but when my parents died I went to go live with my aunt Minnie down under. She came to Hogwarts actually, and so did my mum, so it just felt right to come here." Ely pulled the bone out and threw it a little ways away, where Fang immediately went at it and continued to chew on it, "I'm always playing with the dingos in the outback, so I always try to keep treats on me. Bella is my only real pet, but I've always loved animals."

"You'll love Care of Magical Creatures class then when you're a third year." Hagrid smiled before he looked out the window. "The thestrals are getting hungry, better go out an' feed 'em."

"It was nice to meet you Hagrid." Ely said standing up and walking out the door in front of Hagrid.

"You too…" He paused when he realized he didn't know her name, but Ely just smiled.

"Elanora Taylor, but most people call me Ely."

Hagrid smiled, "See ya soon Ely."

Ely walked away from Hagrid's hut, and halfway to the lake when Lily ran to her with Severus not too far behind.

"Ely, we were looking for you everywhere! We have class in ten minutes." Lily said breathlessly before grabbing Ely's wrist and began to run with her to the dungeons for Potions.

They arrived just as everyone was getting seated. Lily and Severus shared at table, and thankfully Bella saved a seat for Ely which was on the side of the pair, in the front of the classroom.

"Hello children, I'm Professor Slughorn, your Potions teacher for the year." Slughorn came out from behind the chalk board, "Please, set up your cauldren while I tell you about the class." Immediately everyone pulled out their materials, "Now, potion making is no easy task. It is more than just adding ingredients and poof it's over. In this class you will need precision, patience, and if you follow what I tell you, you will be able to brew love, glory, wealth, or death…" The class was at the edge of their seats on this one, to which Slughorn smiled, "Now then, today I shall see where you are in your Potions book and pinpoint who learned from last year."

Slughorn flicked his wand to the board and started to explain the ingredients that he placed on the board. "Now, who can tell me about puffer-fish eyes?"

Lily's hand shot up in the air as well as Ely's. Slughorn, who was impressed with his new student, called on Ely first. "Puffer-fish eyes is an ingredient that can be used in curing potions as well as not so friendly potions. Some muggles even use it as part of their remedies."

"Very good Miss Taylor, five points to Slytherin." Ely smiled smugly to herself and Severus looked like he was impressed as well. "Now, who can tell me what kind of Potion we are making today, based on the ingredients on the board?"

"A Swelling Potion." Lily, Severus, and Ely answered at the exact same time. Ely and Lily smiled at each other, while Severus had narrowed his eyes at Ely.

"Very good! Five points to Gryffindor and ten points to Slytherin."

"Know-It-All." James coughed, to which the rest of Gryffindor snickered, and Ely glared back at him.

"Mr. Potter, since you believe it is correct to mock students who have obviously done their research, than I should expect that you make the best potion in this class, which would earn your house thirty points." Slughorn commented, which made Ely smirk at the blank look on James' face.

The class commenced to make the potions, and Ely slyly helped Bella when she was about to put in the needles in first.

"Mix the puffer-fish eyes first until the potion turns pink, and then add the needles until it turns blue." Ely whispered to Bella while showing her what she meant, to which Bella smiled gratefully.

"When you are done with your Potion, label them with your name and place them on top of my desk and then you are free to go." Slughorn said and Lily was the first one up. She smiled as she handed him the potion, and he gave her a nod of approval when Severus walked up and handed in his. The two of them walked out together, and from the corner of her eye Ely saw James glaring at Severus as he held the door open for Lily and walked out.

Ely waited for Bella to finish with her potion before the two of them went up. Slughorn took his time viewing both of theirs, to which he smiled with approval as he placed Ely's along with Severus' and Lily's. The three potions together looked identical, to which Slughorn commented, "Looks like it will be a three way tie." He locked eyes with Ely, "I expect you will do excellent in my class Miss Taylor. Your aunt was one of my best, and your mother was not too bad herself, although it was a shame that she preferred Transfiguration."

Ely smiled at the compliment before walking with Bella outside. They were walking in step when Bella asked, "Where did you disappear to this morning? I woke up and your bed was empty, and no one saw you in the Great Hall."

"I went out for a walk. I'm always used to it in the morning when I was home, so I ate quickly and left before class." Ely sort of lied, but she didn't know what Bella's reaction was going to be if she told her she went to see Hagrid.

They talked pleasantly the rest of the way to Charms. Ely wasn't surprised that Lucius just so "happened" to pass by when they were making their way into the class. Lucius smirked at Ely, but she pretended not to notice. Bella however, was a totally different story.

"Lucius is so dreamy…" Bella sighed as she sat down, "He just oozes masculinity, and those eyes would make any girl get tingles down her spine."

Ely rasp berried, "Please, he's nothing but a knocker…" An idea popped into her head, "But, I could introduce you to him, if you'd like."

Bella turned red, "Oh no! I couldn't possibly…"

"Trust me; you'd be doing me a favor. Just stick around long enough and he'll pop up eventually." Ely chuckled a bit as Bella turned redder than a tomato as she pulled out her Charms book.

Professor Flitwick was entertaining enough, pairing each of them with a feather and trying to teach the spell 'Wingardum Leviosa', otherwise known to levitate objects. Bella got it on her second try around, rewarding Slytherin with ten points, and Ely got in on her seventh try, trying to not make it extremely obvious. Charms was never a strong subject for her, but she loved Potions. Severus, however, was looking rather bored as he swayed his feather around from side to side.

The class was eventually dismissed, and the students went to have lunch in the Great Hall. Things were, as it seemed pretty normal and going pleasant. Halfway to the hall, Lucius turned the corner and Ely groaned out loud. She immediately cast a disillusionment spell around herself and got out of the way just in time for Lucius to walk up to Bella.

Ely walked a distance away but still watched them. She was too far away to hear the conversation, but from what it looked like it was going rather well. Either that, or Lucius was very good at faking it. Lucius took bowed to Bella, to which Bella turned redder than a tomato, and they went their separate ways. Ely sighed in relief, but was immediately on guard when she heard a whispered "Finite Incantatem".

Turning around and wand raised, Ely came face to face with Severus, her wand pointed at his chest. She lowered it as soon as she realized whom it was she was facing. She gave him a look of like 'What the hell did you do that for?' to which he shrugged.

"Potter already tried to prank me today, and Black was using a disillusionment charm when he was going to attack me." Ely nodded at his explanation before she turned around to leave to the lake when Severus asked, "Where are you going?"

"To the lake." She turned around to look at him, "You can come if you want, but you have to keep up."

"Sure let me just get Lily..." Ely was already walking towards the lake as he said this.

Ely at first thought that Severus was going to go and follow her, but when she turned around, he was already heading to the Great Hall. Sighing, she continued her walk, feeling rather content as she looked on to the water. She slowed her pace as she walked along the edge, drinking in the fresh air and choosing to ignore the rumble in her stomach. Sitting down, she let the wind brush her hair out of her face as she closed her eyes. Her heart clenched in her chest as she thought of the devotion Severus had for Lily.

"It was enough to kill him." Ely mumbled bitterly when she heard the sound of wings flapping in the distance. Looking up, she realized that Belle was coming towards her. Belle landed at her feet, and Ely quickly went to untie the burden that was on her leg and gathered the letter out of her beak. Deciding to open the letter first, she opened the parchment after she handed Belle a treat.

_Ely,_

_Here's lunch, since I think we both already know that you're not going to come to the Great Hall. Watch out for Sirius and James, they might find you before Lily does._

_Severus_

Opening the package, she smiled at the food she was going to grow to love at Hogwarts. Of course, Belle probably picked it out for her and he just placed it in the napkin with a seal on it. Ely smiled as she pulled out a pork chop and started to eat. Giving a piece to Belle, she flew away as soon as Lily appeared.

"Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you!" Lily exclaimed as she took a seat next to Ely. "Nobody saw you after your Charms class Ely, and that was nearly an hour ago. I would have been flipping out of my mind if Sev hadn't told me where you were."

"Sev?" Ely asked, completely thrown off guard. Lily called him Sev?

"Oh yeah, I call him that all the time. It just kind of stuck." She shrugged and Ely nodded. Lily smiled mischievously, "So, I've noticed Malfoy has taken a liking to you."

Ely rolled her eyes, "Please, Malfoy is like Dingo with a bone. The nicer the bone, the more he likes it. He's delusional." Ely sighed, "Besides, I care about someone else."

"Oh, tell me!" Lily exclaimed her smile and her eyes shiningly, but was interrupted by James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

"Look who it is…" James chuckled while Ely and Lily glared, "Why the hostility?" As the girls stood up, James made a grab for the note that fell out of Ely's pocket, and had just opened it when Ely whipped out her wand and hissed "Accio!" and it returned back in her hand. "What, you didn't want me to see the note from your boyfriend Snivellus?"

No one thought this was funny. Sirius was glaring at James, Remus and Peter looked rather worried, Lily looked shocked, and Ely ears were as red as her hair as she trained her wand at James' chest. "Say one more word and you're going to absolutely regret it." Ely hissed, which caused James to smirk.

"You really think I'm…" He never got to finish as Ely shouted, "Alarte Ascendare!"

James flew into the air, only to get caught on a tree branch on the way down. Ely didn't stop to look however as she trained her wand in between Remus, Sirius, and Peter. Sirius held his arms up in defense, "Easy now Taylor, we'll all go, just please get James down _safely_."

Ely mumbled angrily to herself as she pointed her wand at James and gently dropped him on the ground. James immediately stood up and glared at Ely, but didn't say a word as he turned and stormed off, the rest of the guys following behind.

Ely, realizing she still had one problem to fix, turned around to Lily and said, "Look, James was lying. Severus isn't my boyfriend." She handed Lily the note, "You can check it yourself."

Lily read over the note quickly, and her shoulders visibly relaxed as she handed it back to her. Lily looked at Ely seriously, "You know, Severus isn't that trustworthy with people."

Ely smiled in comfort, "I know, and I know he trust you more than anyone else." Ely hugged her, "We're equals, regardless of being in different houses."

"I needed that." Lily hugged her back, and together they walked away from the lake and towards the castle, neither of the two realizing that a bond that would surpass life and time was created at that moment.


	5. Nothing lasts forever

The next couple of days passed rather uneventfully. Bella would hang out with Ely when Lily wasn't around, and Severus would hang out with Ely when Lily was around. Severus would give Ely a nod of acknowledgement and sometimes a small smile, but it seemed as if he only did purely for Lily's benefit instead of his own. Lucius still attempted to try and get alone time with Ely, but every single time she saw him coming she would cast a disillusionment spell on herself. James only glared at Ely, but continued to try and be mean to Severus. Sirius would smile apologetically to her, but otherwise would do nothing else, probably testing the waters to see what side he was on. Remus looked at her apologetically but never dared to speak to her in fear of releasing her temper, and Peter would just look at her with wide eyes and try to run away.

It was Thursday when Ely had her first flying lesson at Hogwarts, and truth be told Ely couldn't stop smiling. Hagrid had noticed her cheerfulness when they passed each other, and he guessed that it was because of it. Not even all of James' snide remarks could have wiped that smile off her face.

"Good afternoon class." Madam Hooch came out and quickly separated the Slytherins from the Gryffindors.

"Good afternoon Madam Hooch." The class replied, and Madam Hooch started explaining.

"Now, on the count of three, kick off the ground with your broom stick. Once everyone is successfully in the air, I will blow the whistle, and we will make loops around the Quidditch pitch to refresh ourselves. Once I blow the whistle again, everyone will come back to the ground and I will separate the teams for a quick Quidditch match." Madam Hooch counted off, and James zoomed up past everyone.

Madam Hooch was about to blow the whistle when James already took off around the Quidditch pitch, halfway through turning around and circling Severus trying to get him off his broom. Ely and Lily went to his aide, but Lily was too scared to do anything other than yell. James heeded no warning, however, and continued to block Severus wherever he tried to go.

Ely, without really thinking it through, shouted, "Potter!" James turned to look at her slightly, to which she turned her back to him and said, "Catch me if you can you big dronger!" At this, James lost focus on Severus and Severus zoomed past James, but James was now trying to play catch up behind Ely.

Ely, quickly realizing James was catching up to her, decided to do a nose dive towards the ground. James, thinking she was going to come back up, followed her down, only to pull up a lot sooner than Ely, as Ely lifted her broom to a ninety degree angle and was barely grazing the floor. Seeing James starting to gain speed on her, she tipped the broom up so she was going up at a straight one hundred and eighty degree, and passed above James just as he was turning up. Ely now had realized that everyone else had already gotten off their brooms, Madam Hooch looking a bit livid and a little amused at the two. Realizing that the sooner she got to the ground the better, Ely let James get real close to where she was hovering before she dipped down, letting herself land quite gracefully on the ground. James, realizing Ely was on the ground and no longer in the air, zoomed down to where she was standing, grazing the top of her head before finally landing next to Sirius. He glared at her menacingly while she just smirked. The smirk quickly left her face, however, as soon as Madam Hooch marched up to the two of them.

"Potter and Taylor, follow me." She looked at the rest of the class, "If anyone tries to fly before I come back, you'll on the next train back home faster than you can say 'Quidditch'."

James and Ely followed reluctantly, most of the Slytherins smirking at a Gryffindor getting in trouble, but Bella and Lily looked sympathetic, while Severus looked upset. Ely tried to catch his eye as she passed, but he just turned his head the other way.

James snickered, "Looks like your boyfriend's mad at you."

"He's not my boyfriend." Ely glared, but the she smirked, "I know someone who would love to be my boyfriend though, and it just eats you alive."

"Leave Sirius out of this." James' glare return, which only made Ely smirk even wider.

"Who said I was talking about Sirius?" James' glare intensified as they turned the corner to Dumbledore's office. Hooch said "Quidditch" and the staircase moved. Dumbledore was already sitting in his office petting Fawkes when the three of them entered.

"Ah, Madam Hooch, Mr. Potter, Miss Taylor…"

"I can't stay for long Headmaster. I left my class outside because these two trouble makers thought it would have been funny to play tag on their first day of flying."

"Very well, go and attend your class."

"Thank you Headmaster." Madam Hooch turned on her heel and walked out.

"You two fly well." Dumbledore mused while pointing at a window, which was probably magically added since Ely didn't see it the last time she was here. "I find it entertaining to see the classes fly. Gives me an idea of who will become Quidditch players later on." He turned to look at them, "However, this is still a very serious matter. I have no choice but to take twenty points from each house and give both of you detention with Filch."

"But Professor, James was picking on a student in my house!" Ely tried to defend her house, but to no anvil.

"I saw that Miss Taylor, but you distracting him would have done enough. You continued then to fly around the Quidditch pitch, doing stunts that put your life and Mr. Potter's in danger due to inexperience. For that, you are just as much to blame as Mr. Potter. Be thankful I do not forbid the both of you from trying out for the Quidditch team this year."

Ely pouted, but said nothing more. Dumbledore assigned them both detentions for Friday after dinner. Walking out, neither said a word to the other. Each went to their respective common rooms, but unlike James, Ely had two people waiting for her.

"I must say, I am impressed by your flying skills according to Isabella." Lucius said, giving Ely a smirk, "So Elanora, how badly did you get punished?"

"Twenty points and detention with Filch." Ely shrugged, and Bella sighed in relief.

"I thought you were going to get expelled!" Bella hugged Ely, and Ely hugged back while Lucius chuckled.

"Quidditch is valued too high to have two good players expelled." He stood up to take leave, "I expect that you'll be on the team this year." He took her hand kissed the top of it, giving Bella a bow before going and walking to the boys' dorms. Bella was pink in the cheeks, and Ely rolled her eyes.

"Hey, do you want to go to the library? I need to check out a book." Ely offered, and Bella nodded. Opening the doorway and walking out, they quickly came face to face with Lily. Bella looked anxiously at Ely, to which Ely said "You go ahead, I'll catch up."

Ely took Lily a ways away from the dungeons towards the library. Once they were far away enough, Ely turned and asked Lily, "So what's up? Sorry about taking you so far away, but if another Slytherin besides Bella sees you, it won't be pleasant for me."

"Quite understandable." Lily sighed, "Look, I know you know Sev is mad at you. It's because you keep fighting his battles for him, and when you're not around, James picks on him even more." Lily smiled apologetically, "I know it's stupid, but it affects him."

"You can tell him he won't have to worry about me defending him anymore." Ely shrugged, "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Too bad I probably won't have another chance to blow Potter into the sky."

Lily laughed, "That was fun watching, wasn't it?" She turned the other way, "I'll see you at dinner, okay? I'm going to go and find Sev."

Ely nodded and continued her walk towards the library. Things were quiet, actually a bit too quiet. Ely heard a sudden noise, and then heard "Petrificus To-"

"Expelliarmus!" Another voice called out, and a wand flew, followed by "Finite incantatem" which revealed James looking rather sour, especially when Severus came out from around the corner.

James was about to reach for his wand when Ely called out "Stupefy!" and Severus also called out, "Langlock!"

Ely looked at Severus with gratitude and relief. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Severus gave her a small smile before looking at James, "You know, now I see why you take advantage when James tries to pick on me. It's rather a lot of fun."

James glared at them hard, to which the both of them smirked. Ely turned to face Severus, "I was just heading to the library to look up some ingredients for Potions. You're more than welcome to join."

"Yeah sure. Let me just get Lily." Ely smiled softly.

"Cool. See you in a few." With that, they went in two different directions, leaving James to wait until the effects wore off.


	6. No matter how it feels today

Ely was sitting by the lake throwing leftover seafood from the kitchens to the lake squid as Belle flew above her. She had no idea what she was waiting for, but it felt like she was waiting for something. Deciding that it probably wasn't going to happen with her sitting here, she stood up and walked towards Hagrid's.

She found Hagrid getting the last of the meat he was going to feed the thestrals today. She voiced her approach as she got closer, and Fang hurled himself at her.

"Down Fang, down!" Hagrid called out to Fang as Ely was laughing as Fang slobbered all over her. Fang sat down as Ely stood up, and she quickly cast a cleansing spell on herself and her clothes before Hagrid could notice. He looked suspiciously at her, but none the less offered her a smile. "It seems you showed up at a bad time. I was just going to go feed the thestrals."

"Do you mind if I join you?" Ely asked shyly, and Hagrid's eyebrow rose.

"You know what they are?"

"I've read up on them..."

"I'm not sure you'll be able to see them, but come on…" He motioned her to follow him as they went into the Forbidden Forest.

They eventually reached the pen where the thestrals were being held, and Ely's breath quickened once again.

"Wow…" She whispered and Hagrid looked at her with wide eyes.

"You can see them?!" Ely smiled sadly at Hagrid's question.

"My father died in a car accident when I was three. My mother was killed by a dark wizard when I was five."

The meat in Hagrid's hand dropped as his eyes watered. "I know who your mother was…" He sniffled. "You're Anabella's daughter aren't you?" Ely nodded and Hagrid gave her a weak smile. "She was an amazing witch, and probably the only friend I had after the incident."

"You knew my mother?" Ely didn't mean to sound so shocked, but even through her whole time at Hogwarts she never knew anyone besides the professors that knew her mother.

"Your mother was like a sister to me. She could go to just about anyone and make friends with them with a snap of her fingers. She never fought with anyone; even most of Slytherin house liked her." He threw another piece out to one of the baby thestrals. "She was beautiful inside and out. Everyone took her death hard. A lot of people were upset when you're aunt Minnie took you to Australia instead of staying here."

"Why did they get mad?" Aunt Minnie had never told her any of this, so it was refreshing if not a bit confusing hearing Hagrid talk about her mom.

"There are a lot of people that wanted to see you grow up. They had hoped that you would have been a piece of your mum left behind; she wouldn't have been completely gone." Hagrid gave her a big smile. "It's strange you didn't end up in Hufflepuff like her. I can already tell you're going to be just like her."

Ely blushed. This was the first compliment she had ever heard from someone other than Aunt Minnie that she compared with her mother. She left Hagrid shortly afterwards and headed back towards the castle. She saw Severus studying under a tree, a concentrated look on his face as he absorbed the Potions book, quickly scribbling on his parchment as he read.

Ely made her presence known as she walked towards him. Severus looked up and narrowed his eyes for the upcoming intruder, but then relaxed when he realized it was Ely.

"Hooroo Severus!" Ely greeted as she went to sit down next to him. He nodded to her in greeting before returning to his book. Ely looked around herself, occasionally taking a glance at Severus before looking away before he could catch her looking. A slight smile formed on her face as her hands brushed against the leaves. Leaning against the tree with her eyes closed, she kept brushing her fingertips against the grass she could reach, loving the sensation the breeze had when the leaves moved under her fingers.

Severus was silently observing her as soon she sat down. He noticed when she would look at him, but made no motion to meet her eyes. As soon as she closed her eyes, he looked up from his book and watched her. He looked at her memorized, watching her fingers delicately graze across the grass around them, the leaves barely moving from her touch, instead just moving with the breeze. He decided to copy her to see what it was that made her so happy about it.

He couldn't understand what it was until he closed his eyes and focused on the leaves tickling his fingertips. It was a tingly sensation, very pleasant across the pads of his fingers as he just barely grazed the tips of the grass. He jumped when he felt something under his hand that he knew wasn't grass.

Ely jumped when she felt something on top of her hand. She instantly opened her eyes and pulled her hand away. Severus looked at her cautiously, and Ely visibly relaxed when she realized it was just Severus. That is, before she turned red because Severus' hand was on top of hers.

Severus looked at her confused as he saw her cheeks tint pink. Ely was about to mumble an excuse when she saw what looked like Lucius' owl Salazar passing overhead. She visibly tensed and Severus looked up confused. Ely didn't move until she saw that Salazar was out of sight, and visibly sighed in relief.

"Whose owl is that?" Severus asked as he too watched it disappear. He was curious as to who could make Ely so tense and afraid of being seen. It was the first time he had ever seen her do that.

"That looked like Salazar, Lucius' owl. He likes to send me messages about meeting up, but quite frankly I'm just not interested. The only thing he hasn't been able to do yet is corner me."

"I've never seen you two even interact with each other since the first day you of this school year." Severus looked at her suspiciously.

"He normally walks with me to breakfast, but then he keeps patrolling before everyone else shows up. By the time he comes looking for me again, I'm walking around the lake. I'm surprised he hasn't tried peer pressure yet."

"Would it actually work?" Severus chuckled as she shrugged and responded, "Probably not."

Well, that satisfied his curiosity about why she never ate breakfast. Now he knew what to tell Lily when she went looking for Ely. Lucius was trying to get Ely's attention? He was rather shocked she didn't accept it and throw herself at him like the rest of the girls in their house did. Lucius made it known his family was a powerful and wealthy wizard family, and more than likely he was going to inherit all of it and whoever his wife was going to be would be living a very luxurious life as well. Then again, as Severus was quickly learning, Ely wasn't like the girls in his house, or like most of the girls in Hogwarts.

They sat in silence for a while before they realized it was probably time to head to Potions. Side by side, they walked to Slughorn's, talking animatedly about Potions and the rest of their schoolwork. At that moment, Severus finally considered Ely a friend.


	7. Chances are we ll find a new equation

The next morning Severus was in the common room patiently waiting for Ely to come down from the dorms. At 5:30 on the dot he heard footsteps coming down from the boys' dorm and Lucius appeared looking sharp as usual. He looked around the common room cautiously before quickly walking out of the room into the hallway. Slightly confused, seeing as he hadn't seen any of the other prefects leave yet, he waited patiently for another few minutes when Ely finally appeared. Looking at a paper she had in her hand, she quietly put the paper in the satchel she had on her side and walked out of the common room without a sound.

Severus quickly stood up and followed her out the door. She was walking towards the Great Hall when Lucius appeared out of nowhere, quickly sending Ely a smile that would make most girls in this school swoon. However, Ely only smiled politely in return, the corner of her lips tight. Severus, disillusioned, noticed this and noticed that either Lucius didn't mind or didn't notice. He could tell that Lucius was not in her favor, but she could hide very well that he wasn't.

"So Elanora, where do you go while everyone else has breakfast?" Lucius asked her as she put her arm in his as they continued to walk.

"Most of the time I go to the library. On some days I'll go to the Owlery." Ely was lying through her teeth, but gave away nothing as Lucius studied her to see if she was lying. Satisfied that she seemed to be telling the truth, he continued on rambling about his wealth and possessions with a smug look on his face.

Severus wasn't surprised Ely wasn't holding a torch for Lucius. He was bragging about anything he could think of, not to mention openly stating his prejudices. Severus could believe Lucius was this shallow, but he couldn't believe that Ely hadn't hex him into next week yet. They paused momentarily as they stood in front of the Great Hall. Lucius, ever the gentleman, opened the door for Ely and bowed as she walked past him through the door. Almost as if routine, she turned and smiled again.

"Thank you again for your protection Lucius." Lucius' smugness grew as he took her hand kissed the top of it. He watched until she sat down at the end of the Slytherin table, bowing to her again, and walked off.

Severus narrowly missed Lucius as he passed him into the Great Hall. Once Lucius left he walked towards Ely, who before he could even take a step mumbled "Finite incantatem."

Severus at least had the decency to have a sour look on his face at being discovered, to which Ely had a sly smile on her face. They both knew that there was no way Severus could have talked himself out of this one, so he just resigned into sitting in front of her.

"Since when did you know?" Severus asked her as their favorite dishes appeared in front of them.

"The moment I walked into the common room. When I put the pass in my bag was when I checked through the whole room. I felt you when I was walking with Lucius." Severus was a bit embarrassed by this. Normally he could sneak by without being noticed, but Ely just seemed too good at being able to sense people.

He was quickly bewildered when Ely took the napkin she had and dumped all her food in front of her into it. Sealing it up into a parcel, she stood up and started to walk out. Severus looked at her as she continued to walk and quickly followed what she did and ran after her.

Severus caught up to her as she walked out of the building towards the Lake. Belle soared above them as either of them said nothing. Ely took off her robe and her sweater and set them down on the grass before sitting down on it and unwrapping the parcel.

Severus followed her motions and sat down as well, keeping his sweater on, just as Belle swooped down and landed gracefully on Ely's sweater. Ely rolled up her sleeves before taking a piece of bread of giving it to Belle. Severus watched as she ate and gave Belle a piece of whatever she ate. Bella hopped over to him and watched him curiously for a moment, before putting her head under his hand. He scratched her head and Ely chuckled.

"She likes you." Ely stated as she genuinely smiled for the first time today. Severus smirked as Belle hooted in pleasure under Severus' ministrations, staying in between him and Ely as they continued to eat their breakfast. Ely grabbed another parcel from her bag when she finished, walked up to the lake and sat it down on the water's edge. She mumbled "engorgio" and the objects inside tripled in size. Carefully levitating the objects towards the lake, once they were about 20 yards away she dropped them, just as an octopus arm reached out and grabbed a piece of fish.

Severus was remotely stunned to say the least as he watched her. The older kids always scared the younger ones by talking about the octopus grabbing students and dragging them into the lake, but he had never seen it yet, and for Ely to just walk up to the edge and do that, he was horror stricken for a few seconds.

He was going to tell her to get away but she had already started to walk back, rolling down her sleeves as she walked. She picked up her sweater and put it on, as well as fastening her robe. She picked up her satchel and slung it on her shoulder before looking at Severus expectantly.

"Come on, we have to grab our books." She held her hand out to it and he took it. She helped him up, picked up his robe, and handed it to him. They walked in silence all the way to the common room, Severus letting her walk ahead of him into the common room. They agreed to meet back downstairs to go to Herbology together, and went upstairs to their perspective dorms to grab their books.

Ely was greeted by a very awake Bella, her books set aside next to Bella's. She looked at Bella confused, but Bella only greeted her.

"I figured you'd be back in a bit so I picked your books and homework." Bella pointed to the stack to which Ely smiled in gratitude. "I finished breakfast ahead of time so I came back here to finish my Herbology homework."

Both of the girls collected their things and walked back downstairs into the common room. Severus as promised was sitting on one of the chairs waiting for Ely. He nodded in greeting to Bella which she smiled in return, and the three of them started walking to Herbology.

Ely started comparing with Severus and Bella about the different properties they had found for the plant they had to write an essay on. By the time they walked into class, Severus and Ely were in a very heated debate about one property's effect on certain types of potions.

"How else can it be used as a salve if it would just turn into liquid? I'm telling you it works." Severus hissed, his brows arched in determination.

"Then how can you just apply it directly? It would be a more liquid like substance than pus!" Ely defended, Bella trying hard to not laugh at their bickering. Even Professor Sprout looked amused as they continued to argue even as they took their seats.

Lily gently nudged Severus in his side to catch his attention. He narrowed his eyes at her before smiling slightly, to which Ely rolled her eyes and huffed in frustration before looking at the board in front of her. Professor Sprout slightly chuckled before she started her lesson.


	8. Chances roll away from me

Professor Slughorn thought it would be absolutely brilliant to mix the houses together as partners for a month. The only partners that stayed the same were Severus and Lily, for obvious reasons. At least Slughorn showed mercy on some of his students. Apparently, those who weren't doing that well got paired with those who were, which fortunately for Ely, meant that she would not get paired with James because he was halfway decent. However, she had expected the worse by getting Peter because he always messed up something on his potions. She had even supposed she would have gotten Sirius since he jokes off more than he actually works. Imagine her surprise when Slughorn said, "Mr. Lupin, you will be sitting next to Miss Taylor for the month."

Most of the class 'ohhed' as Remus stood up and walked to Ely's desk. Bella stood up and looked slightly frightened at Ely, to which she smiled reassuringly.

"Miss Smith, you'll be sitting next to Mr. Black." Bella visibly gulped and Ely gave Bella's hand a comforting squeeze before she walked to Sirius' table.

Ely ran her fingers through her hair nervously, looking sideways at Severus and Lily. As usual, they looked absorbed into each other, not paying any mind to anyone else around them. Ely didn't even try to resist the urge to roll her eyes as Slughorn started the lesson.

Once they were told to start on the potion, there was an awkward silence between Remus and Ely.

"So Lupin, what it is that you don't know what to do?" Ely asked as she crossed her arms across her chest and Remus' cheeks turned pink.

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" He stopped his defense when Ely arched her brow with a 'are you kidding me?' face.

"No offense Lupin, but you're sitting next to the person that is in a three way tie for top of the class. Obviously, Slughorn wasn't going to split up Lily or Severus to help anyone, because that would have made my life _way_ too easy, so you're stuck with me. If Pettigrew is doing better than you, then there's a problem."

With his face almost red, he stood up and picked out the ingredients they needed for the potion. Ely had just finished writing down the potion on her parchment when Remus came back with enough ingredients for the two of them. He separated his ingredients and hers by ingredient and quantity, which she looked on confused.

"You didn't have to do that." She said to which Remus shrugged.

"I wanted to. I was already over there anyways." They both understood this as a peace offering and Ely smiled in acceptance. Grabbing the utensils they needed, they started to work.

Ely watched Remus as his hands trembled as he cut some of the ingredients. She paused for a moment and gasped as he almost cut his finger when he went to cut the last piece. She knew better than to ask so she did what she did when Bella had a hard time; she stood up, stood next to him, and helped him.

Remus jumped slightly as he felt her hands on top of his, and his hands started to tremble again as he picked up the knife again.

"Remus, relax…" Ely sounded soothing as she guided his hands to cut up the rest of the ingredient that he needed. By the time they finished cutting and squeezing everything for the two of them, his hands had stopped shaking and he was somewhat relaxed. Feeling confident enough in him that he could start the potion by himself, Ely quickly started hers. In a few minutes, Ely smelled something funny coming from her side.

"Um, Elanora, I think we have a problem…" Ely's eyes slightly widened before she relaxed slightly. It was bubbling like it was supposed to, but it was blue instead of green like it was supposed to be.

"Just add the crushed needles a teaspoon at a time, stir three times clockwise, and then repeat again until you've added four teaspoons. You probably added the herbs a bit earlier then you should have Lupin." Ely gave him a reassuring smile before Remus finally decided to take Ely's advice.

The look on his face was priceless when he finally saw the potion doing what it was supposed to be doing. It was a darker than it was supposed to, but apparently that didn't seem to be bothering him since he was smiling ear to ear.

"It's finally the color it's supposed to be!" Remus mumbled under his breath excitedly to which Ely giggled. Remus again turned pink as he realized he was heard, to which Ely smiled brightly at him.

"It's pretty good considering you had to speed up a couple of things halfway through. Now tell me, how did that happen?" She felt relaxed talking with Remus, and giggled again as his cheeks turned a rather rosy color.

"I was trying to keep up with you." He said it embarrassed to which Ely felt her heart tugged. She realized that Remus honestly wanted to do well; he just hadn't gotten the hang of it like everyone else had. It didn't help that he missed two days a month either. He was trying to show her that he wasn't that terrible, so he tried copying what she did in hopes it would come out like hers did. Grabbing his hand, she gave it a comforting squeeze.

"I take shortcuts through some of these potions…" She showed him her parchment with notes all around the directions and some of the ingredients, "Just ask me next time. I'm here to help you."

She let go of his hand and turned off his and her burner. Quirking both of their bottles, she stretched her arms and rolled her neck to loosen up her neck. When it cracked, Remus looked up at her disturbed.

"Was that…" Ely nodded as she cracked her shoulder, to which Remus shuddered. "That is really creepy."

"Chill out Lupin, it's not like anything is getting broken." She laughed when he attempted to retort but instead just huffed in defeat.

"Remus, just call me Remus." He said this hesitantly, and Ely smiled.

"Call me Ely, but only you can call me that. You're not a wanker like the rest of them." She pointed to James and Sirius as she said this, to which Remus chuckled.

"I will be sure to pass on the message. Although I can't guarantee that Sirius won't try."

They put their potions on the desk assigned to them and properly labeled. Slughorn saw Remus' potion and smiled approvingly.

"I knew this would work! Just look at the difference in just one class! Before we know it you could be making potions as well as my three brightest can by the end of the month Mr. Lupin." Slughorn praised, which Remus tried to cover his embarrassment by looking down at the table. Looking at Ely's potion, he smiled broadly. "Outstanding work as usual Miss Taylor, even with having to help Mr. Lupin! Truly fantastic. You know, I'd have to break my rule and allow into my Slug club for the rest of the year instead of waiting until next year."

Remus smiled at her to which Ely was already blushing from the unusual stand out of praise. Not once this year since their first potion's class had Slughorn singled her out on her potion making skills. Thankfully for Ely it was time to leave so she packed up her things as quickly as possible. Not paying any mind, her parchment fell to the floor and she blushed even harder. Remus helped her pick up most of them to which she mumbled a quick thanks, her ears now the color of her cheeks.

"I'll see you in Herbology Ely." Remus said as he passed her the last sheet that fell on the floor.

"See you around Remus." Ely politely replied as she smiled at him.

Severus had stormed out of the class, no farewell to anyone as he almost slammed the door behind him. Slughorn had congratulated Ely once again, and told her that if Remus kept it up, he would give her house points for every time Remus did an excellent job on his potion.

"What happened to him Lily?" Ely asked as they walked out of Potions.

Lily shrugged. "I have no idea. He was really tense almost the whole time we were making the potion today. He almost put too many needles into the cauldren had I not said something." Switching the subject, Lily wiggled her eyes at Ely. "So, you were touching Remus and giggling a lot in class today."

"Oh sweet Circe!" Ely face palmed herself before shaking her head, "The poor guy is nervous about something. He kept shaking when he tried to cut something up. He almost cut his finger off!" Lily narrowed her eyes at Ely to which she sighed. "He's not a wanker like Potter and Black. He's…tolerable, if not a bit shy."

"That means he could be your friend…" Lily said in a sing song tone to which Ely rolled her eyes, "I don't know, I think it would be interesting if you guys were friends. You're opposite enough where it could work."

"Not happening. Not as long as he's friends with Potter and Black." Ely defended to which Lily smiled mischievously.

"So it doesn't matter that he's a Gryffindor?" Lily tried to pull out something that wasn't there, to which Ely playfully pushed Lily.

"I'm friends with you aren't I?"


	9. Chances are all they hope to be

Severus seemed to brush off Ely every time she tried to approach him. After trying every single day for two weeks to get his attention, including trying to corner him and waiting by the boy's dormitory, she was done trying.

He was sitting with some of the other Slytherin boys when she stormed into the Great Hall and stared him down. When he obviously continued to ignore her, her ears turned as red as her hair.

"Have it your way Snape! I won't even bother anymore!" She huffed in frustration, and most of the boys around Severus turned to look at Ely. Without saying another word she turned on her heel and stormed out of the Great Hall, her red hair flying behind her as she practically ran out of the room.

Ely didn't notice Severus' eyebrow twitch as he had heard her call him by his last name. Not in the four months had he known her had she done that. He was almost going to tell her to stuff it but wanted to maintain his poker face. He didn't have to deal with someone who was going to be friends with a Gryffindor. To add even more fuel to the fire, he was friends with those that tried to make his life hell. Granted, Remus never actually did anything to cause him harm, but the fact that he didn't do anything to stop them put him equally at fault with the rest of them. Of course, Severus was also ignoring the fact that it didn't matter that Remus was a Gryffindor because Lily was also a Gryffindor and that didn't bother him in the slightest.

She knew that going to the lake would have been completely pointless and would have only hurt her more, so she concluded that going to the library would have been best. Madam Pince didn't say a word as Ely walked in and went to the magical creatures section. Ely carelessly picked a couple of books off the shelves and sat at the desk nearby. She ran her shaking hands through her hair as she opened the book. Tears kept blurring her vision as she tried to read but she was determined to get into the book. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Ely. I'm not here to hurt you." Remus smiled to which she smiled back. He took the seat next to her and looked at the book she had no idea she was reading. His eyes widened slightly when he saw it was about werewolves.

"Um…" he cleared his throat slightly, "Interesting piece of reading you got…"

Ely wiped the tears away from her eyes as she realized what exactly she was trying to read. She couldn't help herself as she started cracking up.

"Crocky mate! Is this ironic or what?" She was clutching her sides from laughing so hard. She finally calmed herself down enough to realize Remus was as red as her hair and look torn between saying something and running away. Without thinking much of it, she hugged him.

"It's okay Remus, I already know." He gasped as she revealed this to him, and he immediately pulled away from her in shock. He looked at her with a questionable face, and she chuckled. "I guess I have a sixth sense."

"So you're not afraid of me?" He sounded almost fearful of her answer as he asked.

"No, I'm not. You're a good person Remus. Just because you're a werewolf doesn't mean you'll become evil. You're in Gryffindor for a reason, and proud of it."

"Are you proud of being a Slytherin?" She raised an eyebrow at this question to which he shrugged. "It's only fair."

"Slytherin is ambitious and cunning. I would rather be that then a blindly courageous Gryffindor."

"Hey! We're brave and loyal too."

"No, Hufflepuffs are loyal. Gryffindors seem to think that trait is theirs, but it's not. Just like Ravenclaws have wit."

"Touché."

While this was going on, things were not going so great for Severus who was still in the Great Hall. Everyone was looking at him with a 'you're in for it now' face, but he just snarled them off.

Lucius was tsking at Severus as he passed by. Severus almost gave him a death stare, but knew better considering he was a prefect.

"Severus, one thing you should know from the beginning is not to upset a Slytherin, especially a female one, no matter what their age is." He smirked slightly, "Like they say, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' I suggest you be careful."

Severus lost his appetite as he left the table and left the Great Hall. Sure enough, Lily followed close behind.

"What are you doing Sev?" She almost hissed at him, to which he stopped to stare at her. "Ely has done nothing to you but be your friend."

"Well she decided she would rather be friends with a mindless Gryffindor of the pack who makes me life a bloody hell."

Lily narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms across her chest. He knew he messed up when he called Gryffindors mindless. They both knew he didn't mean it, especially because of Lily, but it didn't mean it didn't sting any less.

"Now you listen and listen good Severus Snape, because I am only going to say this once." Severus gulped slightly as he realized that Lily was going to give him a well-deserved dressing down. "I don't care that you have a problem with Potter and his friends, because quite frankly I don't very much like Black, Pettigrew, or Potter myself, but Remus is alright. Even if he wasn't, he's nice to Ely, which counts. Now you have no reason to punish Ely because she is being nice." She huffed slightly before narrowing her eyes on him. "If you don't start treating Ely kindly again, she won't be the only friend you'll be without, and I mean it. Especially since I plan on inviting her over to my house for Christmas break."

She started to walk away from him before she turned quickly on her heel. "By the way, if Remus' potions come out almost as good as ours and Ely's because of Ely helping him, he's going to give her house points for every time he does it. Just thought you should know that."

With that she walked off, and left him slightly stunned. That is, before he face palmed it when he finally digested everything Lily threatened him with. He knew it really wasn't Ely's fault, but of all people, did she really have to befriend one of Potter's clan? God knows he would have preferred a Hufflepuff at this given moment in time.

"I guess I have to apologize…" He grudgingly agreed with himself before walking towards Herbology.

Low and behold life was not going to make this easy for him. He walked in while most of the class was already sitting. Lily had saved a spot for him as usual, but what was off was that there was another Slytherin that wasn't Ely sitting next to Bella. He scanned the room quickly only to find that Ely was sitting next to Lupin again, apparently chatting it up with him like they were the best of friends. The only satisfaction that Severus had was that Potter also had a very murderous look on his face.

Severus slouched into his chair and Lily ignored him as he tried to get her attention. He sighed and passed her a quick note. Lily opened the letter and only smirked as she read it.

"I know she's sitting next to him. I told her to do that."

"What possessed you to do that?!" Severus hissed at Lily. The Slytherin next to him arched an eyebrow at him, but Lily remained unfazed.

"After how you've treated her these past two weeks Severus, it's only fair that you're going to have to swallow a bit of your pride and apologize."

Severus learned quickly that he had no room for argument in this one. Swallowing some of his pride, he sat through the rest of the class with a sour look on his face.

When class was finally dismissed, Severus waited until Ely had said goodbye to Lupin and started to pack up her stuff.

Ely noticed what Severus was doing and immediately started to pack up faster than she normally would. She was close to getting passed him but he blocked her from leaving.

"What do you want Snape?" Ely spat this question out at him, to which Severus almost was just going to turn and leave, but he didn't.

"I want to apologize for my behavior Elanora." He sighed in almost desperation. Ely's eyebrow arched and she placed both of her hands on her hips.

"Alright, I'm listening."

"I'm sorry for my rude behavior this past two weeks." When she looked at him expecting a bit more, he ran his fingers through his hair with a look of guilt on his face. "It was unfair of me to treat you like that because you have decided to become friends with Lupin. I should trust your judgment and know that if you are friends with him it means he isn't a mindless Gryffindor."

She smiled as he finished his apology and unexpectedly gave him a hug. "I forgive you." She narrowed her eyes at him, completely ignoring the fuzzy feeling in her stomach, "Just know that the next time you do this, you won't be forgiven this easily."

He shrugged, feeling remotely better than he had before. "Fair warning I guess."


	10. Don't get me wrong I'd never say never

"Hey Ely, did you finally ask your aunt about you guys staying at my house for winter break?" Lily asked as she, Ely, Bella, and Severus were doing their homework in the library.

"Belle didn't drop off anything, so I'm not sure yet. Maybe Aunt Minnie sent her owl instead. They only way to know is to check the Owlery." Ely answered with a shrug. Lily looked crest fallen slightly and Ely frowned.

"Why don't we go and check? I have to go see if Midnight is okay anyways." Bella suggested and they all agreed. Packing up their stuff, they headed towards the Owlery.

It was rather remarkable how well things had turned out. Severus and Ely were back on speaking terms, Bella was sort of friends with Lily, although it was still a touchy subject because she was a Gryffindor, and Potter's gang hadn't attacked Ely or Severus in while. Remus and Ely were still friends, and both Severus and James had gotten used to the fact that they were going to be friends anyways. However, James, Sirius, and Peter didn't like that they thought Ely knew something about Remus that Remus wouldn't tell them himself. Overall though, things were going rather well.

They got to the Owlery and as if on cue, Aunt Minnie's owl flew in from one of the windows and landed on Ely's shoulder. She scratched his head and handed him a treat.

"You can rest for a day Austin, you earned it." The owl hooted in gratitude as he walked off with another treat in his mouth, flying to a branch that was next to Belle.

"Do you have an endless supply of treats for owls in your robes or something?" Lily asked as she saw Ely pull out a few more treats from her pockets and put them in a compartment so Belle could have some later.

"Nope, I just literally carry this amount of pet food on me at all times." Ely replied sarcastically which caused Severus to chuckle. Bella hadn't quite picked up on the sarcasm so was a bit offended like Lily was. Ely quickly read the note and added, "By the way Aunt Minnie said yes."

Lily was about to retort when another owl came and perched itself on a branch in front of Ely. Ely's smile dropped from her face and Severus had a somber look on his face. Salazar stuck his leg out for Ely to grab the parchment from his leg. She took it and he flew off towards a nearby branch, cleaning his already clean feathers.

"Who is it from?" Bella asked, to which Lily shrugged as Ely was about to open the note. However, there was an interruption.

"Hey Elanora!" Matthew Watson had just walked into the Owlery. Ely smiled brightly at him as he came up to her.

"Hooroo Matthew, how are you? And call me Ely." Matthew bowed and kissed the top of her hand, then also bowed to the other girls and gave Severus a slight nod.

"Only if you return the same courtesy by calling me Matt." When she nodded he continued, "I was on my way here to deliver this to you actually," he held up a small note, "but since you're already here it makes this much easier. I was wondering if anyone had asked you to the Christmas dance yet."

Ely's eyes slightly widened as well as Lily's, Bella's, and Severus' eyes had done in shock. "I thought students weren't allowed to go until their third year."

"Most of the time, yes, unless they get asked by someone in a higher year." Matt ran his fingers through his short brown hair, "I guess what I am trying to ask is… Will you go to the dance with me?"

This left Elanora completely floored. Her mind couldn't process what it was that would make Matthew want to take her to the dance. Sure, they greeted each other when they passed and had the occasional chit-chat, but it still didn't add up. Then she remember the note that was currently in her hand. The dance was in two weeks, and she realized that probably that was what was probably awaiting her when she opened up the note.

"Yes Matthew, I will go with you to the dance." His smile widened as she had said yes, and his cheeks were slightly pink.

"Brilliant! So I guess this means you're my date. Um…" He looked like he wanted to say a lot of things at once but then chuckled, "I guess we'll work out the details later. Let me know what color you're planning to wear." He kissed her hand again, bowing to her and to Lily and Bella. Giving Severus another nod, he exited the Owlery much more confident than he had walked in.

Ely was almost as red as her hair as it finally sunk in what had happened.

"Did that seriously just…" Bella trailed off as Ely nodded. "So you're actually…" Lily also trailed off as Ely nodded again.

Lily was the first to react and tackled Ely in a big hug. "This is absolutely fantastic Ely! You're probably one of the youngest students to get to go to the dance. And you got asked out by a sixth year!"

"What are you going to wear?" Bella asked and then Ely's face dropped.

"I don't have anything to wear." Ely replied sadly to which Lily and Bella frowned.

"Before you three get any further into this, I would personally like to know what Lucius had to say." Severus interrupted.

Ely opened Lucius' note and almost rolled her eyes.

_Elanora,_

_I know you realize that the winter dance is in two weeks. Normally students are not allowed to go if they are below third years, but I am willingly to take you as my date. It would give me great pleasure if you would accept. Please send your answer back with Salazar._

_Lucius _

"Wow Ely… You've been asked twice by fifth year and a sixth year to the dance in less than 5 minutes of each of them." Bella said in awe to which Severus rolled his eyes.

"Well I already said yes to Matt so I guess Lucius is just going to have to suck it up." She took out a small piece of parchment and quickly wrote back to Lucius, apologizing for not being able to go with him and explaining that she already said yes to Matt. However, she did recommend that he was Narcissa, to which he would most likely get a yes from. She called down Salazar and slipped it on his leg, to which she told him to go to his master. As the owl flew off, Bella had grabbed Ely's hand and was dragging her out of the Owlery.

"Where are you taking me Bella?" Ely asked as Lily kept her hasty pace back towards the castle, with Lily and Severus in tow.

"You need a dress in two weeks, well I have the solution." Bella told them to stay out in front of the dungeons as she walked into the Slytherin common room. She came back out a few minutes later with a magazine in her hand. Bella looked at Severus expectantly to which he took the hint.

"I'm going to start my Potions homework. You can find me in the library once you three are done doing whatever it is that you're doing." Severus said before he walked into the Slytherin common room.

Lily took Bella and Ely into the Gryffindor common room and into her dorm. Her roommates looked up but said nothing as they sat on Lily's bed.

Bella opened the magazine and Lily and Ely were in awe. It was like a muggle prom magazine, but the pictures actually moved so you could see the dress at all angles, including hair and shoes.

"Bella, this is great!" Ely hugged her as she watched the dresses on the page. Bella touched one of the pages and told Ely to stand up. She touched the magazine again and measuring tape came out of the page and measure Ely. Ely and Lily were shocked at first, but Bella shrugged it off.

"My parents are used to my sister and I buying dresses for ourselves. It saves them the hassle of taking us to Hogsmeade. My dad is also used to my sister always buying stuff for her friends."

"Bella, you don't have to do that." Ely was touched by Bella's generosity, to which Bella smiled.

"You're my best friend Ely. It's the least I can do." Ely gave Bella a big hug in a gesture of thanks.

In between Lily and Bella, with Ely putting in her two cents every once in a while, they had finally managed to pick a dress. The delivery would take normally three days, which left time for alterations if needed.

"They're not as perfect as actually getting the dress at a shop, but it's pretty close." Bella commented as she closed the magazine.

Ely hugged Bella in thanks and then asked Lily for a piece of parchment. Taking a quill that was laying around with ink she quickly wrote down seven words. Spelling the parchment to turn into a bird, she gave it a quick kiss before sending it off.

While the girls asked Ely how she had done that, the bird made its journey from the Gryffindor tower to the Ravenclaw common room. Most people stopped and watched it fly through the air, but no one dared touch it. Not even Peeves made a move as the parchment flew by him. The parchment successfully made its way into the common room where everyone just kind of froze. Matthew was finishing up some of his potions homework when the bird flew up to him, pecked his cheek, and landed perfectly on top of his textbook. Carefully picking it up, he slowly opened it and read what was inside. Almost no one understood why he was laughing so hard.

'_Just to have some peace of mind, it's blue with silver. Have to have my Slytherin touches you know."_


	11. Cause though love can change the weather

It had been a couple of days since Ely had agreed to go with Matt to the ball, and Lucius had yet to say anything to Ely. She had expected him to go up to her, but he hadn't even walked her to the Great Hall. She started to worry when she hadn't seen Matt those couple of days either, thinking that Lucius had done something to him, when Narcissa and Andromeda approached when she was on her way to the Great Hall for lunch.

It almost seemed as they were bickering each other when Andromeda smiled at Ely. Narcissa almost looked like she didn't want to be here, but Andromeda pushed her.

"I'm only here to say thank you for telling Lucius to take me to the ball." Narcissa said with an air to her that said 'I'm reluctantly doing this but I'm still better than you.' She looked at Andromeda and then Andromeda laughed while rolling her eyes. Narcissa swiftly turned on her heel and stalked off.

"Sorry again for Narcissa, she's just mad that Lucius asked you first." She sighed, "It's a shame really that she treats you this way. From what people have said you're not that bad except for hang with a muggle and half-blood in Gryffindor."

Ely raised her eyes at this, "You don't call them mudbloods?"

Andromeda shrugged. "Why should I? Their blood isn't any different than yours and mine." She chuckled, "Although if anyone of my family members heard me say that they would have my head."

"You know what Andromeda? You're not bad, not that bad at all." They started walking towards the Great Hall. "It was nice talking with you."

"You're not that bad yourself Elanora. We'll talk later." Andromeda headed towards her sister as Ely took her spot next to Bella. Bella and Ely talked about what had just happened when Severus appeared.

"Well actually Ely, a lot of people in Slytherin have problems with you talking with Lily and Lupin. They have never actually said it to your face though." Severus commented as he sat down and Ely shrugged.

"I quite frankly could care less. Obviously it doesn't bother that many people because Lucius still insisted on pursuing me until I turned him down and Andromeda is talking to me."

"Andromeda agrees with her family views about people like Lily and Lupin, although she never openly says like her sisters do. As for Lucius, I think his treatment of you will be changing very soon." Severus retorted quickly just as Lucius passed by. He didn't even blink an eye towards Ely as he went and sat next to Narcissa, although as he was talking he looked like he had an ill temper.

"Oh whatever, he's just a wanker anyways." Ely gave Severus the look to drop the subject which he did, and the three continued to eat in silence. As Ely stood up to leave however, one of the older Slytherin girls use a tripping spell that Ely wasn't ready for and fell. Bella immediately stood up to help her, while the rest of Slytherin minus Severus and Andromeda snickered. Even Lucius smirked at bit.

"That's exactly where people like you should be, on your knees. You're a disgrace to Slytherin." The girl that had cast the spell spat, which Ely gave her a death glare in return.

Ely's wand hand twitched anxiously; she had hexed people for doing much less. However, when she scanned the room, she saw Slughorn and Dumbledore looking at her. She locked eyes with Dumbledore for a second and with that look it warned her not to do anything. Getting up to her feet with her head held high, she looked as if nothing had happened. Seeing that Severus was avoiding her eyes, she walked out of the Hall with Bella in tow.

Even as the Great Hall closed behind her, Ely didn't dare look back. She didn't even notice when two other people stood up and followed her out.

"Ely!" Remus and Matt both called out and Ely stopped. A couple of tears had run down her cheek and she quickly wiped them away as she turned to look at them. The only person that saw them was Bella.

"What happened?" Remus asked as Matt held his arms out for her.

Walking into Matt's comforting embrace, she said, "Apparently almost all of Slytherin is against me because I hang out with Lily and you. I also added fuel to the fire by rejecting Lucius' proposal to go to the dance with him."

Matt chuckled as he let her go to hug Remus. "Yes he was rather buggered about that. It was rather amusing seeing him so mad while I had the biggest smug look on my face and he couldn't do anything."

"Yeah well, apparently Slytherin is on his side since a girl cast a tripping spell on me and told me I was a disgrace to my house." Bella scowled as she repeated this, looking almost livid about how they treated Ely.

"If what you've done to James any indication of what you're capable of, then I would be worried for the girl." Remus joked as Bella and Ely smirked while Matt looked confused.

"The Potter's son? What have you done to him?" Matt asked.

"Let's just say he knows what it is to be on the receiving end of my wand…" Ely said, "I know most of the seventh year course work."

"Really?!" Remus, Bella, and Matt looked shocked as she revealed this and she shrugged.

"I was homeschooled for most of my life. My aunt took full advantage of the time she had." Matt looked at her with a slight smug on his face while Bella and Remus looked positively shocked.

"Well I wouldn't worry about Lucius anytime soon. He knows he can't do anything to harm you, unless he wants most of Ravenclaw on him." When Ely looked questionably at him, and he shrugged, "I play against him in Quidditch. He knows I could 'accidently' knock him off his broom."

They talked for a bit longer until they saw that the houses started to file out of the Great Hall. Bidding farewell to each other, Bella and Ely quickly headed into the dungeons and into their dorms before anyone else could have appeared. The other three girls gave Ely a snarl as they passed, Bella with her wand ready before Ely gently stopped her.

"They're not worth it…" Ely started to say when Bella cut her off.

"This is ridiculous! You should be allowed to be friends with whoever you damn well pleased, and be able to go to the dance with whoever strikes your fancy. Who knew we were in a house full of idiots?" Bella hissed.

"Watch it Bella, we still have to be in this house for another 5 years." Ely hushed her, hoping that the others didn't hear. She knew she could probably defend herself against most of Slytherin, but she didn't know about Bella.

"Whatever, let's just grab our stuff and go to class." Bella grabbed her papers and books, waiting for Ely to do the same before they walked out of the dorms again, being the first to show up to class.


	12. No act of God can pull me away from you

Ely was just about fed up with her house. After a couple of other attacks on her person, the last one practically leaving her paralyzed for a couple of minutes, she decided to fight fire with fire.

She felt the couple of hexes hit her walls when she trained her wand at the attackers.

Ely snarled a couple of pretty nasty spells at the two girls that had tried to hex her. Once her face erupted in boils, and the other felt a certain itch suddenly overcome her whole body. "Weak." Ely spat as they ran towards the hospital wing.

She was prepared as she felt a presence behind her and deflected whatever spells had been intended for her. Ely smirked slightly as she saw the girl that had originally started this trend of attacking her. She didn't even have the chance to open her mouth as Ely hit her with a babbling curse, then with the Colloshoo spell, and finished with Flipendo which caused the girl to fall back on her butt.

"That's all you got? You're a disgrace to Slytherin." Ely's wand was trained on the girl as she her eyes widened in fear. Ely assumed the girl was trying to plead some sort of mercy but due to the babbling curse she couldn't understand a word. She left the babbling spell on her while also adding an Illegibilus on the girl as she ran away.

Unfortunately Ely wasn't quite done. Within the next two days she had to hex about a fourth of her house, each on a separate occasion, and the professors were starting to get suspicious. Some Slytherins took the hint that she was not to be messed with, but others still persisted. Thankfully, the only attacked Ely when she was alone, which was not often, which meant that Bella was safe. On the third day, Ely found herself surrounded in the common room on her way to go to the Great Hall.

"So how are you going to do it Taylor?" A sixth year spat as all of them took a step towards her, wands drawn. "It's all of us against you."

"Doesn't seem really fair." She commented to which a fifth year chuckled.

"In case you haven't noticed, Slytherins don't play fair." He said which caused

"Oh I have…" With that she cast her first spell, and everyone else shot a hex. However, imagine everyone's shock when they heard a "BOOM!" and then felt themselves fly across the room. Without missing a beat, Ely had all their wands in next to her feet and no one could move a muscle.

She tsked as she looked at each and every one of them. "See what happens when you don't play nice? Now, normally I would hex each of you so badly you would all have to be escorted to the hospital wing in less than two minutes, but I will show mercy…" She disillusioned the wands and randomly hid them in separate places, while also making sure they couldn't use Accio to bring their wands back, although it was unlikely that any of them would have been strong enough to do wandless magic. "Are we all clear?" When she saw the slight fear in some of their eyes, pissed off on the rest of them, she smiled sweetly with murder in her eyes, "Glad we understand each other."

With that she walked out of the common room. She decided against going to the Great Hall like she had originally planned, she walked to the library to relax. She noticed no one was in so she let herself in and started to scroll through the shelves. She had relaxed herself so much by just trying to look for a particular book, she hadn't heard someone come behind her.

"Well Elanora, you certainly have caused a lot of havoc against your own house." Ely immediately stiffened as she felt the wand in her side. Lucius had gripped her wand arm and held on tightly, her body practically trapped against his.

"It's all about self-perseverance. Every man for himself Lucius, you taught me that yourself the first day I showed up."

He chuckled, "Always the bit of refreshing air. You always can back up what you say…" He poked his wand into her side just a bit harder. "I really must thank you for advising Narcissa, but you must know I was rather disappointed when you decided to go with that half-blood Ravenclaw instead. I don't take disappointment well Elanora; I'm used to always getting what I want."

He put an extra emphasis by squeezing her arm tighter, and Ely was desperate to figure a way out. She was an excellent duelist, but had never had any reason to be developed in hand-to-hand-combat, and her wandless magic abilities were not very developed.

"Lucius, you're hurting me." Ely whimpered as she felt a bruise starting to form on her arm.

"It's a powerful feeling isn't it Elanora? To know you have someone under your thumb. You can control them… They are at your mercy, and you decide what happens. It's addicting isn't it? I bet you've felt it whenever you have had to duel someone." He whispered in her ear as he pressed his wand into her middle, essentially immobilizing her from doing anything. Neither of them noticed the footsteps that had come towards them.


	13. I m just a realistic man

"Is there a problem Malfoy?" Ely almost cried out in relief as Lucius momentarily faltered, which gave Ely enough time to break free and run into Matt's protective arms.

Lucius almost hesitantly turned around to face Matthew. Matthew protectively wrapped his arms around Ely, giving Lucius a death stare.

"I was just congratulating Elanora on her many duels today. She's undefeated." Lucius tried to be sly but everyone knew it wasn't working. Ely was trembling slightly, trying to regain her composure from being pinned helplessly. Lucius noticed the position that Matt had Ely, but said nothing.

"I know, she is an excellent duelist. She knows almost all of the seventh year spells." Matt continued to stare down at Lucius, which Lucius wisely resigned.

"I will take my leave then." He bowed to the both of them and then turned on his heel and left.

Ely buried her head in Matt's chest and started to sob. She hadn't been this afraid since she saw Hogwarts being attacked, and to her that was almost four months ago. Matt didn't say anything but continued to hold her, rubbing soothing circles on her lower back until she calmed down.

"It's going to be okay Ely. Malfoy won't do that to you ever again." They sat down at a nearby table as Ely composed herself enough to talk.

"I was so scared Matt…" She took a shaky breath, "He had his wand in my side and had a tight hold on my wand arm. I couldn't fight back no matter what I thought about doing."

Matthew couldn't say any comforting words simply for the fact that he didn't know what to say. However, he did wipe the tears away from her face, which is when he noticed the scar across her eye and cheek. She flinched away when she felt his thumb graze her cheek.

"Ely, what happened?" Ely curled into herself as she shuddered at the question. Matt immediately regretted asking when Ely opened her mouth.

"Both of my parents were killed before I was five. My dad in a car accident, my mother by a wizard. This is from a stray piece of glass that flew by and hit me in the face. I have another one across my shoulder."

Ely expected him to shudder away from the scar or look at her with pity. She almost didn't want to meet his eyes but she knew it was inevitable. Looking at him, she saw something completely different.

Matt looked at her with more respect and admiration then anyone had ever looked at her before. She knew at that moment that he was looking past her scar, and neither of them had to say anything to know that he still thought she was beautiful, freckles and scars.

"Thank you for saving me Matthew." She finally remembered to say, but they both knew she didn't have to.

"I'm here for you Elanora, and I will be for as long as I can. You're an amazing person all around. People like you are hard to find and only come around once in a lifetime."

Holding her into his side, they walked out of the library and into the Great Hall. Most of the higher years had yet to arrive, probably due to fact that they were still looking for their wands, while the rest of the houses just turned and stared at them, Ely already hiding the scar again with her hair. Even the Professors looked at them with a confused expression as they went towards Slytherin table. Bella was seated towards the end while Severus was sitting towards the middle. Bella had a scowl on her face but immediately turned to relief when she saw Ely.

"You're alive! I thought you might have ended up at the hospital wing when Matt offered to look for you." Bella hugged Ely and she winced slightly, "Are you hurt?"

"I had a close call with Malfoy, but Matt came and saved me." She smiled softly at him, which he smiled back.

"It was nothing really." He said it sincerely, but Bella still thanked him profusely. No one said a word as he sat down next to Ely.

Ely nodded towards Severus in question at Bella, to which she rolled her eyes. "He is neutral to what just happened to you, and puts blame on Matthew as well."

Ely didn't say anything but continued to pick at her food. Matt, grabbing her head and gently giving it a squeeze, urged her on. Leaning on his side for support, she ate a little bite each time. All she wanted to do was curl up and sleep. Right when she was about to doze off at the table, Headmaster Dumbledore showed.

"Miss Taylor and Mr. Watson can you come with me please." It wasn't a question to be discussed as both of them stood. Saying a quick goodbye to Bella, all three of them headed up towards the headmaster's office, Matt's hand on Ely's lower back in support.

"Considering what I just heard from your Head of House Miss Taylor, would you happen to know why it was that a third of your house was looking for their wands in the common room?" Dumbledore asked and Ely kept a straight face.

"When I left the common room Headmaster everyone was perfectly fine." Ely didn't even blink an eye as she said this. The Headmaster looked at her questionably before turning to Matt.

"Mr. Watson, would you happen to know anything that was going on?" Dumbledore looked at Matt hard, watching for any sign that would give away that he knew something.

"I was in the library looking for Elanora when I saw her talking to Mr. Malfoy sir. That's as far as I know about Slytherin."

"Why were you looking for Miss Taylor?" Dumbledore looked between the both of them this time.

"He invited me to go to the winter dance with him Headmaster. He was coming to ask me what colors I would be wearing so we would match. Matt walked in on Lucius trying to persuade to come out of my promise to go with him instead. I politely declined." Ely covered it up without any give away in her tone or her facial expression, for once both eyes trained on the Headmaster as she moved her hair out of her face.

Dumbledore saw the scar briefly but said nothing. He knew her story and how she had come to acquire it, and for her to be showing it off meant that she must have told Matthew how she had come to acquire it. He deducted that whatever happened, the two of them must have been very tired.

"Very well." Dumbledore stood up, "You two are free to leave. However Miss Taylor, the remaining Slytherins have been set up to go to the Great Hall while we find out what exactly happened. Since you are friends with Miss Evans, Mr. Lupin, and Mr. Watson, you may stay in either the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor rooms. You would have to sleep in the common room, but beds can be provided."

"I would like to stay in the Gryffindor common room if it is alright with you Headmaster…" Ely's cheeks turned pink as she asked, "Would it be too much to ask if Bella and Matthew come with me as well? I've had a rather rough day if you can imagine."

A smile broke out on the Headmaster's face, "I'm sure I can arrange that. However, Professor McGonagall would have to be present as well."

Ely smiled in thanks, and Matt and her left the headmaster's office.

"Why did you do that?" Matthew asked as soon as the staircase rolled back into place.

Ely immediately became defensive. "I didn't want to leave Bella in the pit of the snakes by herself."

Matthew chuckled, "I know that, but why me? And how come you didn't ask Severus?"

"You've been standing up for me when I need it most. Severus just stands back and doesn't do anything. The only person he does anything for it Lily." When Ely had gotten to Severus, she let out the bitterness in her tone, which caused Matt to raise his eyebrows.

"Am I sensing a bit of jealousy?" Matthew made it sound playful, but Ely just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, he's just a wanker anyway. Let him sleep in the bed he made of snakes." Matt immediately detected the iciness in her voice and dropped the subject. Figuring what they needed was going to be sent to the Gryffindor common room, they picked up Bella, Ely not giving even a sideways glance at Severus, and they left to the tower. None of them noticed the glare Severus was giving to the two of them.


	14. A Bottle Filled With Shells and Sand

Lily immediately tackled Ely and started to worry over her. Sure enough, Bella, Ely, and Matt's things had been moved into the Gryffindor common room. Most of the Gryffindors stayed away, but some were interested it what had happened.

Ely told Lily, Bella, and Remus what had happened in the Slytherin common room and then what happened in the library, with Matt giving her hand a squeeze of comfort whenever she started to choke up. By the time she finished, Lily was paler than usual, Bella looked ready to kill, and Remus looked like he wanted to go rip every Slytherin's head off.

"How dare they?! How dare they do that to you just because of Malfoy?!" Bella was seething as she hissed.

"Malfoy is one of the richest families in the wizarding world." Matt added. "I wouldn't be surprised if in one way or another every Slytherin was connected in some form to the Malfoys."

"Well I know two Slytherins that aren't." Lily commented and all of those looked at her confused. "Isn't it obvious? Ely isn't because she is from Australia, and Severus isn't because he lives in the Muggle world."

"Don't even talk about Snape right now! He could get swallowed whole by all the Slytherins for all I care." Ely rubbed her temple as she said this. "You would think he's trying to be a pure blood or something."

"Wait a second…Severus isn't a pure blood?" Bella asked to which Lily and I nodded.

"I'm not a pure blood either if that makes any difference." Everyone turned and looked at Ely confused. "My dad was a muggle and my mom was a witch. So I'm a half blood."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bella was hurt by this, to which Ely frowned.

"I didn't know how to tell you." Ely tried to explain but she really couldn't.

"Well this is an interesting turn of events." Remus chuckled as everyone turned to look at him, "We have two Gryffindors, two Slytherins, and a Ravenclaw, which happen to be three half-bloods, a pure blood, and a muggle born. All we're missing is a Hufflepuff muggle born and we can make this a Hogwarts party."

Ely was the first to burst out laughing, then Matt joined in. Soon enough it was contagious and everyone started to laugh. Ely eventually toppled over and landed with her head in Matt's lap, Bella and Lily were leaning on Remus for support, and Remus almost fell over.

They had finally calmed down when one of the other kids had come by and looked nervously at Ely.

"There's a Slytherin outside looking for you, and she's threatening the Fat Lady."

Almost instantly Remus and Matt stood up, followed by Bella and Lily. Ely was almost afraid to see who it was, until she heard the voice.

"Andromeda…" Ely quickly walked towards the common room entrance and opened the door, smiling as she walked down to greet Andromeda.

"Oh sweet Circe I'm so glad you're okay!" Andromeda hugged Ely tightly, "I thought Slytherin would have finished with you."

"No I came out alright. Only with a couple of bruises from Lucius." Andromeda almost swelled in anger when Ely said this, but seeing Ely okay made her smile.

"If it makes you feel better, the Slytherins that attacked you in the common room are trying to figure out how to explain how a second year flew all of them across the room at the same time without even mumbling a spell. Better yet, why it was 23 against 1."

"Eh, I could have done better." Bella and Matt's jaw dropped as Ely acted indifferent to it.

Looking back at the four behind Ely, Andromeda pulled her a few feet away from them and huddled next to her.

"I wanted you to be one of the first to know who my date to the winter ball is." Andromeda had the biggest smile on her face as she started, "He's Ted Tonks and he's a seventh year Hufflepuff."

"That's great Andromeda! When did it happen?" Ely tried to keep her excitement down to a minimum but she considered Andromeda an ally in the Slytherin house.

"A few weeks ago actually. I haven't told Narcissa because he's a muggle-born." Andromeda frowned at this, and Ely gave her a side hug.

"Does it matter to you that he's a muggle-born?"

"Not at all! If anything, that's part of what makes him so amazing. He's kind, open minded, gentle, caring, compassionate…" She paused as she slightly turned pink, "He treats me like a princess."

"Then what everyone else thinks doesn't matter! As long as he makes you happy that's what should matter to everyone else."

They talked a bit longer before Andromeda had to go to the Great Hall since it was reaching curfew. They walked away from each other knowing they bonded over something that no one else in Slytherin could understand.

"So, what did she want to talk about?" Bella finally opened the can of worms and Ely smiled.

"She's going with a Hufflepuff muggle-born to the dance." Everyone gasped in surprise. Bella took the hardest time to actually believe that's what Ely and her had been talking about before she huffed.

"Here I thought I was the only weird one who was okay with muggle-borns." Bella snorted which Lily glared.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily crossed her arms in defense.

"Hey! I'm your friend aren't I?" Bella defended herself which made Ely, Matt, and Remus smirk.

Sirius had come down from the boys' dorm and gotten Remus. He bid us all goodnight before going with Sirius. At this point they decided to get changed and ready for bed. Ely and Lily were explaining to Bella and Matt how some Muggle devices work when McGonagall walked in. She was originally going to send Lily up with everyone else, but since McGonagall had a soft spot for Lily, she allowed her to stay with Ely, Bella, and Matt.

McGonagall let them stay up for another twenty minutes to see if she could find out what actually happened, but all four of them were set on not touching the subject about what happened today. Finally the Gryffindor Head of House sighed and told them all to get into their beds to sleep. After saying their good night's to each other, everyone turned and fell asleep.

For Ely she wasn't that lucky. She kept tossing and turning as she kept feeling like Lucius had her pinned against the bookshelf. She kept fighting in her sleep, and Matt eventually got up from the noise. He sat on Ely's cot and gently shook her awake, causing Ely to shoot up in bed and almost start to fight with him. When she realized who it was that was next to her, she buried her head in his chest and silently sobbed.

McGonagall had eventually woken when she heard Ely crying, neither Matt nor Ely noticing as she quietly sat up. Matt looked down at Ely and whispered something to her that McGonagall hadn't quite heard. However, Ely had temporarily let go and watched as he pulled the mattress, sheet, and pillow off from the cot and placed it on the floor next to Ely's cot. He laid down on it, grabbed her hand, and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Matt said something to Ely once again, and Ely nodded while saying something in return and smiling softly. Both of them laid down to go to sleep, their hands locked. McGonagall smiled softly before going back to sleep herself. She woke up the next morning to find that they hadn't moved an inch since she last fell asleep.


	15. Afraid to Love Beyond What I Can Lose

Ely awoke the next morning with two pairs of eyes staring at her. She looked at them with a raised eyebrow and they smiled at her before looking around for Matt.

"Morning Ely, we were waiting for you to go have breakfast. Matt had to go do prefect stuff, but he said he'll meet up with us later." Lily explained as Ely sat up.

"After that McGonagall said you have to go talk to the headmaster." Bella added. They waited as she got ready in ten minutes, and made their way out of Gryffindor tower.

Everyone stared as the girls made their way towards the Great Hall. Bella and Lily were on the defensive as they walked. Ely kept eyes casted downward as she walked, and she noticed when all the students just stopped talking when they entered. Lily went towards Gryffindor table and Bella and Ely went to sit at the end of the Slytherin table.

There was a seven person gap between Ely and everyone else in Slytherin. Some looked at her with fear; others looked at her with pure hatred. She noticed that half of those that had tried to duel her in the common room were not seated at the table, while the others were sporting some minor bruises and injuries. Bella chuckled as she realized that none of them would meet her gaze.

"What a bunch of cowards. No one of them even have the courage to say anything." Bella spat viciously.

"Bella, they're not worth it. The important thing is that I didn't get hurt." Ely soothed, to which Bella nodded.

They were eating in silence when Andromeda walked in and sat next to them. Both of them looked at her curiously and she shrugged.

"What? I can't sit next to you two because you single handedly defeated about twenty five Slytherins?" Andromeda asked and Ely shrugged.

"In case you haven't noticed, Bella and I are the exiles of Slytherin…"

"Well maybe I would like to be an exile as well? You two are much easier to get along with than most of those in my year anyways."

The discussion was dropped and they continued eating as before. Soon enough everyone started slowly filing out to go to class.

"I'll see you in a bit, okay?" Ely reassured Bella as they hugged.

"Don't get into any more trouble." Andromeda commented as her and Ely said their farewells, and with that Ely headed towards the Headmaster's office.

Matt was just getting out of the Headmaster's office when Ely walked in. He gave her a polite smile and kissed her cheek before heading off to his class. Dumbledore asked her to sit.

"Miss Taylor, almost every Slytherin that was found in the common room has said that you were the reason they were looking for their wands and for their injuries..." Dumbledore trailed off as she opened her mouth to interject.

"Headmaster, they came to attack me. They had surrounded me and if I hadn't done that I would probably be in St. Mungos right now fighting for my life. I was very well aware dark spells were going to be thrown at me, so I did nothing but deflect them back at them."

"That is what I had concluded, but why?"

"I am friends with Lily and Remus, both which are not purebloods and in Gryffindor. Mr. Malfoy had also asked me to go to the winter dance with him, but Matthew had asked me first, so that could also be another reason why my house dislikes me so much."

Dumbledore nodded before chuckling. "Ah the problems of being a teenager, the bittersweet years. Of course, we both know that you are past dealing with these issues like a normal witch of your year would."

"Headmaster, I am a second year in body, but of mind I am someone that has seen the harsh consequences of war. Whatever happens in these walls are not of my concern except for a handful. This kind of drama is beneath me."

While all this was going on, Severus was still not having the best of luck.

Severus had to sleep with one eye open the whole time they were in the Great Hall. He bit his tongue when they harshly talked about Ely, and almost blew a fuse from what they said about Lily. He knew he messed up when he completely ignored her, but at the time he thought it was better to side with the house than with Ely.

Boy was he wrong.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned very much applied to him in his dilemma. Lily was refusing to speak with him again, and he was once again alone. He felt miserable, and stupid to be perfect honest. He had a hunch of what the Slytherins had planned, but said nothing to warn Ely, even though he knew that she was being attacked on a regular basis. He hadn't known she had such capabilities. If he had known that, he probably would have stayed on her side. It is always best to side with the most powerful, and quite frankly Ely was it. Even some of the boys were afraid what she did to them.

He walked into class by himself, taking his seat as usual, and leaving a seat for Lily. Bella walked in and sat in her usual seat, although he was curious as to why Ely wasn't with her. His jaw dropped however when Lily walked in, completely ignoring him, and went to sit next to Bella. Class started and he was worrying where Ely was. His nerves heightened with every passing minute, quickly glancing towards Bella and Lily before looking at the board again. His notes were completely forgotten as he wondered where in the world Ely was.

His worried ceased when Ely walked in. She smiled at the Professor while handing him a note, before looking at the class for an empty seat. She sighed before resigning to sit next to him. He tried to get her attention but instead she ignored him.

It went like this through the rest of the class. Even the Professor had to warn Severus to stop, which just made him even more upset. Once class was over, Lily, Bella, and Ely all pointedly ignored him as they walked out together talking about the lesson. He failed to see what it was that he had done to deserve this kind of treatment.

He cornered Lily while she on her way back to Gryffindor tower. She tried to walk past him but it was useless.

"Why don't you go off with your pure blood, Malfoy loving friends?" She spat as she tried again to get past him. It temporarily stunned him but he quickly recovered.

"What are you talking about Lily? My friends are you and Elanora…" Lily froze when he said this and he continued, "Sometimes I count Isabella. The Slytherins are my housemates. I'm only around them when I need to be."

"Well you obviously chose your housemates over us when you refused to help Ely. I can't believe you Severus! After what she's done for you, you've thrown it back in her face and mine."

"What do you mean everything she's done for me? She hasn't done anything for me!"

"Oh, you don't think so?" Lily tapped her foot as she crossed her arms, "Do you even remember the last time Potter bothered you?"

"Yes he did, it was yesterday actually."

"But he didn't do much did he?"

"Not as bad as he normally does but what is…."

"My point is that Remus talked to Potter about leaving you alone. Remus knows how much it upsets Ely when you are getting picked on, so she asked Remus to talk to them for her, and he did. Remus stops him before he can actually do any real harm anymore."

Severus thought about this for a while. He was so absorbed in processing what it was that he didn't even notice when Lily turned on her heel and left. Yes, Potter and Black were still being a nuisance to him with their little jinxes, but Lily was right in that they haven't been that severe as they used to be. He had figured that maybe it was because they had gotten tired of bullying him. Of course, he had once again underestimated Ely's ability to be manipulative and resourceful. He smirked at how Slytherin she really was.

"Why does this always happen to me?" He mumbled as he made he turned around. He wasn't quite sure where he was going, but he figured it out eventually.


	16. When It Comes To You

Ely was extremely happy when the dress finally came in, and to her surprised fit her exactly how it was supposed to. She gasped as she looked at herself in the mirror. The blue made her pale skin glow, the silver in her dress accentuating her gray eyes. Ely was thankful that it covered up her shoulders, showing no sign of her scar. She frowned as she sat the scar on her face. Both of them had noticed her change in demeanor, and quickly tried to fix it.

"You look amazing Ely!" Lily squealed and Ely blushed, while Bella gave her a smile of approval.

"Both of you are amazing!" She hugged the both of them before panic finally took hold. "The dance is tonight!"

"We already knew that. What is your point Ely?" Bella said as she chuckled slightly when Ely paled. "If you're worried about your hair and make-up, I will gladly do it for you."

"I'll help too." Lily added as Ely sat down at the vanity. She smiled thankfully at them before she excused herself to change. It was still a few hours before the dance, and most of the older kids were now leaving to Hogsmeade.

After a few minutes they all departed, as Lily needed to finish her report and Ely wanted to walk around the lake. Bella was originally going to go with Ely, but shocked Ely and Lily when she asked if she could keep Lily company. Lily was flabbergasted at first, but Ely smiled at Bella.

"What gave you the change of heart Bella?" Ely asked to which Bella shrugged.

"Considering that none of my friends are pure-bloods and the ones that I have met that are have been nothing but pricks, it seemed rather stupid to keep my parents' prejudices."

Lily smiled brightly and hugged Bella. Saying a quick farewell to Ely was once more, she grabbed Bella and sprinted towards the library, Bella's laughter echoing behind them.

Ely shook her head with a giggle escaping her lips as she turned on her heel and started walking towards the lake. She was just about to exit the castle when she noticed the older students leaving out to Hogsmeade.

She hid slightly so that none of them would notice her, narrowly missing Lucius' line of vision as he checked around himself. However, two people saw her when she cast a disillusionment charm.

Matthew walked up to her from behind and whispered, "You're not trying to sneak off are you?"

Ely jumped a bit and gave him a slight glare as the disillusionment fell. She pouted and he laughed.

"For your information, I was actually heading towards the lake for a bit of a walk seeing as it is the weekend. I was just waiting until all of you left so I could go in peace." Ely explained herself, to which Matt shrugged.

"Suit yourself, I was actually going to try and help you if that was your plan." He looked up quickly and realized he needed to get going. "I have to go to pick up my robes. I will see you tonight." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before hightailing towards the others.

Ely blushed as she realized McGonagall was standing there the whole time. She gave Ely a small smile before following the others to Hogsmeade. Once she saw McGonagall go out of sight, she continued her walk towards the lake.

She was just about to turn around and walk towards the way she came from when she noticed Severus standing there. The content smile that was on her face dropped and she turned and started to hightail it towards the other side of the castle.

Severus quickly realized that Ely was trying to run away from him, and ran to catch up to her. He was thankful at that moment that he decided to not wear his robes since it made it easier to run.

Ely knew he was quickly catching up to her, and she cursed under her breath that she didn't have muggle sneakers. Mary Jane's were comfortable and practical, but not so much for running purposes. He almost had caught her wrist when she turned around and trained her wand at him.

"Don't you dare touch me!" Her wand was pointed at his chest and he held his arms up in defense. "You have no right, you slimy Slytherin!"

"Oh, so now I'm a slimy Slytherin now? You're in Slytherin!"

"But I didn't turn my back on my friends!" She had angry tears starting to form in her eyes, "I at least know who my true friends are. I know who will have my back when I need it most, and who will at least try and warn me if harm is coming my way."

He flinched when she mentioned that he knew they were going to attack her in the common room. He still hadn't quite forgiven himself for not telling her before they did it. He knew that they had planned on attacking her, but he just didn't know when.

"What, now the infamous Severus Snape has nothing to say for himself? Used up all your Slytherin cunningness and ambition?" She poked him with her wand. "Be a man, fight! You wanted to side with the house, now fight me like the rest of them did."

"I will not fight you Elanora. I refuse to do so and it would utterly ridiculous for me to even try."

She spelled him with a small spell to push him away from her, causing him to land on his bum. She stared at him wide eyed in shock and he just looked at her with remorse.

"Like I said Elanora, I refuse to fight you. While I'm at it I am also refusing to stand, since by your current actions I will just get hexed again, even though it was completely unfair for you to hit me while I don't have a wand out to defend myself with."

She pointed her wand at him again and he flinched, bracing for the impact. He felt himself being elevated very slowly, and then he was set on his feet. She glared at him as he wiped dirt off himself.

"I refuse to fight someone that will not fight, just like I don't fight those who are defenseless. If this is your way of an apology, you're going to have to try a lot harder."

He sighed before nodding. As she was walking away he asked, "Can you at least tell Lily that I tried?"

Ely turned around and hit him with the same spell except it was a bit harder. He was about to say something when she muffled him.

"Do you ever do anything except think about yourself?" The tears finally fell as she looked at him hard. "If that's what you want than fine, I'll do it. I'll tell Lily everything is fine between us to make her happy. I'll make up an excuse every time she wants to hang out with the two us so you won't have to deal with me. But mark my words Snape this will be the last time I will out of my own free will try to speak to you since you obviously don't want to speak to me. I won't ask you for help, I won't sit next to you, hell I won't even look at you. You will have Lily just like you always wanted, and you won't ever have to worry about me being in the way of that again."

Her voice was shaky as she said this, the unbreakable vow magic swirling around her. She almost wanted to take it back, but she didn't see the reason in it since she realized that Severus could never love her like she loved him. She was pulling herself out of the equation to prevent him hurting her. She released the muffle and walked away, tears streaming down her face.

Severus was cursing like a sailor was he brushed himself off. He was doing fairly well with Ely until he mentioned Lily. He didn't think she would get so defensive. But, she was right. Why else did he talk to her other than for Lily's sake? At least, that's what he thought it was. He refused to admit that he found her quick wit and intellect a bit of refreshing air compared to everyone else in their year. He found the fire in her heart when she was passionate about something or someone fascinating, and she always had an air about her that made him believe she knew about things that he didn't. A part of him wanted to know her secrets, but the other wanted to stay cautious since she was after all an outsider to him still. Making his way back to the castle, he thought about how the next few days could possibly pan out, a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach as he walked away.


	17. And Though I See Us Through Yeah

Ely walked almost every inch of the castle as she tried to calm herself. She hadn't dared go to Hagrid's hut, although she wanted to. She didn't want him to see her like this, because then she would have to explain why. She couldn't do that to herself just yet. She wanted a place for herself, so she tried looking for the Room of Requirement. After she was about to give up, the door appeared in front of her.

Without even waiting to see if someone had seen her, she ran into the room. The Room of Requirement quickly created a bed, and she plopped herself on it and sobbed. She now realized that she had thrown out her one chance of possible happiness with Severus. It physically hurt with the Unbreakable Vow weighing her down. The only way it could possibly be lifted is if Severus genuinely wanted to speak to her, but she felt like that was never going to happen.

She went on alert when she heard the Room of Requirement its door. She sighed in relief as she got off the bed and ran to Remus, who quickly engulfed her in a giant hug. He had shown up at just the right moment, especially since she had not seen him the past couple of days because of his transformation.

The room changed again to a lounging area, almost an exact replica of the Gryffindor common room. Remus picked her up and sat down on the couch, Ely still crying in his arms.

"Ely, what could have possibly gone wrong for you to be crying so much? Did Matthew do something to you?"

"It wasn't Matthew. It was Severus…." She barely managed to say through her tears. Remus looked at her skeptically.

"What do you mean Snape? I thought you wanted him to go fly a kite in nicer terms." Ely smirked slightly before more tears continued to run down her face.

"I made an Unbreakable Vow to never be him unless he genuinely wants to be around me…"

"Well that's a good thing, I suppose…"

"You don't understand Remus… I'm in love with him!" This started a new round of tears, and a confession on Ely's part.

Ely spilled everything to Remus. She almost left nothing out from her past, and by the end all she had left were dried up tears.

Remus almost wanted to run in the other direction, but he someone knew that Ely wasn't lying. Both of them knew it all sounded crazy, but he somehow understood it all.

"You mean to tell me that James and Lily get married, Sirus gets put into Azkaban because of Peter, and I get married to a girl that can change her appearance at will?"

"Out of everything that was just said, that's all you got out of it?" Ely was almost shocked, but Remus shrugged.

"The future still isn't set in stone. You came back for a reason, and if your sole reason for coming back was for Snape, you would have disappeared as soon as you made that unbreakable vow."

"I never really thought of it that way…"

Remus smiled and gave her a tight hug. He was sworn to secrecy and Ely was finally smiling again.

"You know, Sirius had the biggest crush on you before he was partnered up with Bella?" Remus asked and Ely's jaw dropped.

"Sirius likes Bella?" When Remus nodded, Ely smiled wider, "That's great! I have a feeling that Bella kind of likes him too, but I don't think she wants to say anything because he's a Gryffindor and his family kind of sucks. Although ideally, they would work."

"I feel sorry for Peter…" Remus commented with a frown. "I think I could see why he would go over to the dark side."

"If it makes you feel any better, I want to help to make sure that it doesn't happen. He just needs some confidence in himself. He can do some amazing things with his amount of dedication; it's just that it's misplaced."

They stayed in silence for a bit, before Remus nudged Ely. "So, you used to be a Hufflepuff…"

She playfully shoved him, "It was terrible! I think the only reason that I was placed in Hufflepuff was because of my mum. I think my aunt was slight disappointed, but I think it's because she was a Ravenclaw."

"How did you not have any friends? I doubt you were that much different than you are now."

"I was actually the shy girl who kept her head in muggle books and talk to the animals. Hagrid was basically the only friend I had, and that was because he saved my life. I lived a very isolated life my whole life, especially after my aunt had died. No one ever really took the time to get to know me. The teachers all loved me because I was one of their best students; I was probably the Hufflepuff that had gotten the most house points from my year without having played on Quidditch team. It wasn't that I never tried out for the team; it was just that no matter how good I was, Hufflepuff didn't want me. Sprout had pity on me and let me be commentator for games that Hufflepuff played."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that…"

"It's not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for. Quite frankly I blame my own house. I wouldn't even be in this predicament had they not pushed me into Severus in the first place. But, things are still way better now than they were the first time." She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed, "I have you, Bella, and Lily to thank for that."

"You know, James, Sirius, and Peter aren't all that bad. You should give them a chance."

"I would, but James hates my guts and Peter is afraid of me. Sirius I know would have been my friend by now if James didn't hate me so."

"James actually thinks you loath him. It kills him inside because his parents actually knew your parents when you were both little. He hates the idea that if your parents hadn't died you two probably would have been close."

Ely was speechless as Remus revealed this to her. There was so much about herself that she didn't know, and there was so much about her parents that she didn't know. It was mainly her own fault, she never asked when she was spending time with Aunt Minnie. Now she knew that she had all the resources in her hands to get to know the people that mattered most to her even though she never got to really know them.

Tucking her hair behind her eyes, Remus saw the scar that graced the side of her face. He knew how she had gotten it because she told him, but it was still gut wrenching to know that Ely had a constant reminder of why she was left without parents, and no idea of how she was still alive.

"Remus, can you do something for me?" When he nodded, she took a shaky breath, "Can you bring James into this room tomorrow? I want to talk to him, and get to know someone that could have been my friend had my parents still been alive."

"You'd be surprised at just how many people that could have been Ely. It could have been me, could have been Peter, heck it could have even been Snape if his mother was in the same year as your mum and aunt."

She realized quickly that her life could have been completely different had her parents been alive, or had her aunt stayed in Britain rather than leave to Australia. She knew as soon as she got home, she was going to have questions that needed answers.

They left shortly after, both headed towards Gryffindor tower, Remus to catch up on some mischief with the boys, and Ely to get ready for the dance.


End file.
